Professor Stuard collects here a set of her articles on women and gender in the Middle Ages, beginning with her first, published in 1975. The first section, on marriage, opens with an exploration of the Ragusa/Dubrovnik archives, reaches out to consider patterns of gift-giving at marriage and of consumption. The second section focuses on slavery, specifically women destined for domestic service. The final parts contain historiographical surveys of the field of women and gender studies, and three biographical studies.
In 2006, the United Nations reported on the “feminization” of migration, noting that the number of female migrants had doubled over the last five decades. Likewise, global awareness of issues like human trafficking and the exploitation of immigrant domestic workers has increased attention to the gender makeup of migrants. Donato and Gabaccia evaluate the historical evidence to show that women have been a significant part of migration flows for centuries. This book demonstrates that variation in the gender composition of migration reflect not only the movements of women relative to men, but larger shifts in immigration policies and gender relations in the changing global economy.