Guilds' Norms and Statutes: The legal status of sienese women in 1545

Abstract

The focus of this article is the legal status of women in Siena, as seen through the statutes
of 1545. In outstanding aspect of these concerns the regulations of the participation of women
in Guilds. These documents reveal that women were present in many activitics and levels of the
production and the hierarchical systems of the guilds, thus playing a key role in the development
of the city and its commerce as mitnessed in the Lodgers' Guild. Nevertheless, when this
commercial sector went into a crisis, women were the first to be sacked although their presence
was maintained in the sector, but restricted to the role of caretakens and other humbler jobs,
their previous prestige becoming steadily lost.