This paper uses microdata assembled from a collection of family monographs to examine female work among rural households in interwar Italy. It finds that female employment in agriculture was very high (approximately 80 percent), which contradicts available estimates from population censuses (50 percent or less). Yet despite the pervasiveness of female work, time use remained extremely segregated by gender—women devoted less than half as many hours as men to paid work, instead specializing in producing services for the family. These results substantiate the calls for caution in interpreting standard labour market indicators, such as labour force participation, in the preindustrial past.

中文翻译：

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养家糊口者、面包师傅：20 世纪 30 年代意大利农村的性别分工

本文使用从一系列家庭专着中收集的微观数据来研究两次世界大战期间意大利农村家庭中的女性工作。它发现农业中的女性就业率非常高（约 80%），这与人口普查的可用估计值（50% 或更少）相矛盾。然而，尽管女性工作无处不在，但时间使用仍然存在严重的性别隔离——女性花在有偿工作上的时间不到男性的一半，而是专门为家庭提供服务。这些结果证实了在解释工业化前的过去的标准劳动力市场指标（例如劳动力参与率）时需要谨慎的呼吁。