Czy chłopka mogła być chłopem? Odpowiedzialność kobiety za gospodarstwo domowe w świetle testamentów małopolskich chłopów z drugiej połowy XVI i XVII w.
Could a Peasant Woman Have Been a Peasant Man? A Woman’s Responsibility for the Household in Light of the Last Wills of Lesser Poland’s Peasants rom the Second Half of the 16th and 17th Centuries

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this article is to determine the degree of responsibilitya woman had in the household. The texts of around twenty wills of Polish pe-asants from the second half of the 16th and 17th centuries, published in print in 2015 by Janusz Łosowski, were used. The stories show that peasant womenwere often chosen by their husbands, who were expecting to die, to be theirsuccessors, assuming all responsibility for the family as widows. However, therewere cases in which women – as a result of a man’s decision (due to their age,among other reasons) – were deprived of the opportunity to govern the ho-usehold. Although the head of the household was usually the man, which canalso be seen in the texts of the last wills, women played an important role in itsfunctioning, appearing as specialists in cultivating the land and raising animals.

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