Women of Early Yekaterinburg in Eighteenth-Century Household Census Records
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2025-14-10-392-410
Abstract
This article analyzes data on women living in early Yekaterinburg as recorded in household censuses from 1728 and 1788. The study aims to determine the number, social composition, and employment characteristics of urban women during the eighteenth century. It employs methods of source criticism and quantitative analysis within the frameworks of social and gender history approaches. A comparative analysis of these two census records reveals that over a period of sixty years, the female population of the city tripled and by 1788 had become predominant over males. The dynamics of women's affiliation with various socioprofessional groups reflect the transformation of Yekaterinburg from an industrial mining center into a craft-based trading hub. Based on the 1788 census, family relationships are reconstructed along with diverse occupations and sources of income for women, ranging from domestic handcraft production to trade and wage labor. It is noted that the eighteenthcentury saw significant strides made by women towards overcoming traditional societal constraints. The conclusion underscores that by the late 1780s, women constituted an active and socially significant segment of the city's community, playing key roles in its economic life.
Keywords
Women's History,
Urban Population,
Ural Region History,
Yekaterinburg,
Household Censuses,
Gender History
Supporting agencies: The study is supported by Russian Science Foundation, project number 24-18-00080 “Anthropology Mining Center: social stratification of early Yekaterinburg in 1723—1781”
About the Authors
E. V. Borodina
Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Elena V. Borodina, PhD in History, Associate Professor, Department of Russian History
Yekaterinburg
S. I. Tsemenkova
Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Svetlana I. Tsemenkova, PhD in History, Associate Professor, Department of Documentation, Archival Science and History of Public Administration, corresponding author
Yekaterinburg
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Review
For citations:
Borodina E.V., Tsemenkova S.I. Women of Early Yekaterinburg in Eighteenth-Century Household Census Records. Nauchnyi dialog. 2025;14(10):392-410. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2025-14-10-392-410
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