Thousands of children were abandoned by single women and poor married couples in pre-industrial Europe, a phenomenon that increased dramatically during the 19th century. Given that many of these foundlings did not survive, the decision to abandon a child has often been equated to that of committing infanticide. This workshop invites proposals exploring whether sex was an important dimension in the decision to get rid of unwanted babies. While unwed mothers were mainly driven by shame and therefore did not consider the sex of the new-born, married couples had more incentives to abandon their female babies if they lived in an area where son preference was strong. In this regard, previous research has shown that, although the sex of the infant was irrelevant in many areas, more girls than boys were abandoned in other regions. As well as assessing the intensity and nature of this phenomenon and its variation across regions and over time, this workshop encourages proposals that attempt to identify the reasons that explain this behaviour. Contributions exploring both qualitative and quantitative materials are welcome.

PROGRAMME

Clarion Hotel, Brattørkaia 1, Trondheim

09:00-09:15 Introduction

09:15-10:15 First panel

- Giuliana Freschi and Marco Molteni - The wheel of life: The effect of the abolition of the ruota on infant mortality in 19th-century Italy

- Eftychia Kalaitzidou - Abandoning Girls: Data from Greece of the late 19th and early 20th Century

10:15 Coffee break

10:45-12:15 Second panel

- Francisco Marco-Gracia, Margarita López, and Francisco J. Beltrán Tapia - Gender discrimination and child abandonment in 19th-century Spain

- Dimitra Vassiliadou - Unwed pregnancy as collateral damage in Greece, 1920s-1960s

- Joana Vieira Paulino - Child abandonment in 19th century Lisbon (Portugal): gender’s weight in the act of exposure and in the life course analysis of foundlings

12:30-13:30 Lunch

13:30-14:45 Third panel

- Andrea Martí Serrano and Ignacio Nebot Segarra - The gender difference in the abandonment and fostering of children in the hospital system of late medieval Valencia

- Natalia Tsourma - Medicolegal Discourse on Unwanted Infants (1913-1940): Questions and Approaches to Neonatal and Infant Death in Greece

14:45-15:15 Coffee break

15:15-16:45 Four panel 

- Tommaso D’Amelio - Illegitimacy in France at the time of the revolution

- Martha Vasili - Unwanted Pregnancies. Abortion, infant abandonment and infanticide in Greece (1900-1940)

- Gabriele Cappelli and Francisco J. Beltrán Tapia - Son preference and child abandonment in Italy, 1880-1911

16:45 Conclusion

Organising committee:

Marko Kovacevic, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Eftychia Kalaitzidou, Norwegian University of Science and Technology 

Francisco J. Beltrán Tapia, Norwegian University of Science and Technology