Charmian Mansell, University of Exeter, has published "The variety of women's experiences as servants in England (1548-1649): evidence from church court depositions" in Continuity and Change 33:3 (Dec.2018), 315-38. Here is the abstract:
This article demonstrates, using evidence from church court depositions, that women's experience of service in early modern England was more varied than scholarship suggests. Moving beyond its conception as a life-cycle annual occupation, the article situates service within individual life-stories. It argues firstly, that service extended across the whole of women's working lives and secondly, that employment arrangements took a wide range of forms. Service for women is shown to have been flexible, varied and contingent, employing a diversity of individuals under a variety of different employment agreements.Further information is available here.
