This book is the first of four books based on a series of symposia funded by COST, which is an intergovernmental framework for the promotion of European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research. It draws on both historical and contemporary European case-studies to offer a sophisticated account of the relationship between gender and well-being. The authors focus on key discussions of the changing conceptions of well-being from early twentieth century calculations of the relationship between income and the cost-of-living, to more recent critiques from feminist writers. Their fascinating answers allow them to significantly challenge the issue with the idea that well-being is not only associated with income or opulence but also relates to more abstract concepts including capabilities, freedom, and agency of different women and men and will be of considerable interest to economic and social historians, sociologists of health, gender, sexuality and economists.

Contents: Preface; Gender and well-being from the historical and contemporary perspective, Bernard Harris, Lina Gálvez and Helena Machado; Part I Gender and Well-Being in the European Past: Gender-based economic inequalities and women's perceptions of well-being in historical populations, Richard Wall; Measuring gender well-being with biological welfare indicators, Avarinda Guntupalli and Jörg Baten; Anthropometric history, gender and the measurement of well-being, Bernard Harris; Gender and well-being in the Pyrenean stem family system, Marie-Pierre Arrizabalaga; Overexploitation, malnutrition and stigma in a women's illness: chlorosis in contemporary Spanish medicine (1877–1936), Josep Bernabeu-Mestre, María E. Galiana, Ana P. Cid and Josep X. Esplugues; Changing terms of well-being: freedom, security and commitment on the agenda of Finnish nurses' associations, Heidi Haggrén. Part II Contemporary Perspectives on Gender and Well-Being: A proposal for a discrimination index for a non-neutral fiscal policy, Paloma Villota; Violent crime, gender inequalities and well-being: models based on capabilities and crime data for England and Wales, Paul Anand and Cristina Santos; Beyond equality: towards a system of non-androcentric indicators, Cristina Carrasco Bengoa; Living and working conditions: perspectives, concepts and measures, Tindara Addabbo and Antonella Picchio; Incomplete women and strong men – accounts of infertility as a gendered construction of well-being, Helena Machado and Paula Remoaldo; Time to do and time to be? The use of residual time use as a gendered indicator of well-being, Claudine Sauvain-Dugerdil; Summary and conclusions, Bernard Harris, Lina Gálvez and Helena Machado; Index.

About the Editor: Bernard Harris is Professor of the History of Social Policy at the University of Southampton. He has published widely in areas relating to the history of health and well-being and the history of social policy. He is the author of The Origins of the British Welfare State: Society, State and Social Welfare in England and Wales, 1800-1945 (2004). and the co-editor of Race, Science and Medicine, 1700-1960 (1999) and Historical Perspectives on Charity and Mutual Aid: European and American Experiences since 1800 (forthcoming). He also edited the book series, Studies in the Social History of Medicine between 1995 and 2001.

Lina Gálvez Muñoz is Professor of Economic History at the Pablo de Olavide University in Seville, Spain, and a member of the Economic History Research Institute Laureano Figuerola at the Universidad Carlos III in Madrid. She is also a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for International Business History at the University of Reading, UK. Her most recent book is Estadísticas Historicas del Mercado de Trabajo en Andalucía (2006), and she has co-edited a number of books and special journal issues, including Managing Foreign Companies in the United States (2004).

Helena Machado is Professor of Sociology at the University of Minho, Portugal, and Deputy Director of the university's Sociology Research Unit. She is the author of Moralizing Maternity, Biologizing Paternity (forthcoming) and the Handbook of Sociology of Crime (forthcoming), and she is the co-editor of Scientific Proofs and International Justice: the Future for Scientific Standards in Global Environmental Protection and International Trade (2005).

Reviews: 'This fine book offers an important contribution to our understanding of the many dimensions of well-being. The historical and contemporary studies in this volume demonstrate that for a proper understanding of human well-being, we have to pay due attention to gender issues. Students, scholars and policy makers across the social sciences and humanities will find this a valuable collection.'
Ingrid Robeyns, Erasmus University, The Netherlands

'This collection explores the impact of economic and social change on male and female lives. Inspired by Amartya Sen's influential critique of traditional indicators of well-being, the authors bring fresh ideas to his capability perspective. The contributors display practical experience, deep historical understanding and a willingness to talk across time, space, and disciplines. The result will be of great value to researchers in this hugely important field.'
Jane Humphries, University of Oxford, UK

This title is also available as an ebook, ISBN 978-0-7546-8863-1

Professor Bernard Harris's profile page on the University of Southampton website

Professor Helena Machado's profile page on the University of Coimbra website

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Full contents list

Preface

Index