Sotaränkors överlevnadsstrategier i Stockholm

Abstract

The artide analyses female chimney sweeps' survival strategies from 1700 to 1925 in a labour märket organised for men. The sources for this investigation are pro-memoria from and petitions to authorities in the city of Stockholm as well as parish records and probates. In the article it is shown that women could manage very well the trade for years even if the sources give information about conflicts between these women and their employees or their customers. Before 1733 there were women in the guilds. After this a woman could take over a workshop and act independently only when she became a widow. The widows were elever at negotiating with the local courts and acquired commissions to sweep the chimneys belonging to the city. Under the guilds a widow who remarried with a journeyman maintained control over the workshop. Since he was automatically transformed into a master she could act for herself and manage the workshop with his assistance. A common strategy for keeping the power in a family was to set up chains of marriages and remarriages including those of sons and daughters-in-law. The longest chain joined a chimney sweep from 1789 to a widow of a chimtiey-sweep in 1923. As the institutional framework changed so did the opportunities for female workers in the trade. The labour märket was in fact designed to favour men and when the guilds were dissolved in the 19th century the opportunity for women to continue with their husband's workshops finally disappeared.