Women Heads of Household in a Mining Center: Santa María de Charcas (Viceroyalty of New Spain), at the end of Eighteenth-century

Abstract

Using the information from a 1790 census, this paper analyzes the female-headed households in Santa María de Charcas, a mining center of the Intendancy of San Luis Potosí (New Spain). To do this, various variables are crossed (such as ethnicity, marital status, age or occupation) and some demographic, ethnic and socioeconomic characteristics of these female-headed households are examined. The presence of households headed by women in the mining center of Charcas serves as a window to learn about the spheres of action of women in New Spain’s society and, ultimately, to point out their involvement in mining economies.