Gender Discrimination, Mortal Neglect and Female Infanticide in Greece, Mid-Nineteenth to Early Twentieth Century

This book offers the first comprehensive, in-depth analysis of gender discrimination and female infanticide in Greece during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. While focusing on a single case study, it offers insights into broader patterns of gender discrimination across Europe, particularly in countries shaped by social upheaval, economic instability, and deeply entrenched patriarchal structures. The book combines extensive quantitative analysis of population records, census data, and economic indicators such as dowries with innovative qualitative research. Unlike similar studies in other regions, this book employs a multidisciplinary approach. Integrating mixed methods and sources, including census data, contemporary literature, oral histories, and folklore, it provides a nuanced understanding of local variations, mentalities, and socio-economic factors influencing discriminatory practices. The book challenges the conventional narrative that Europe did not experience high levels of gender discrimination in childhood during this period. Drawing on sources ranging from foundling hospital records to folkloric texts, it uncovers the major social and economic dimensions of this phenomenon in Greece. It also pays particular attention to skewed sex ratios and women’s labour and economic opportunities, examining how these intersected with regional family systems and gender inequalities, while opening avenues for future research into their longer-term social and economic implications. This will be an important read for scholars in economic history, population economics, gender history, historical demography, and ethnography.