Minding Her Own Business
Book description
There are few memorials to colonial businesswomen, but if you know where to look, you can find many traces of their presence as you wander the streets of Sydney. This book brings the stories of these entrepreneurial women to life, with fascinating details of their successes and failures, their determination…
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Why read it?
1 author picked Minding Her Own Business as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
It's long been assumed that in the 19th century most women (other than domestic servants) stayed home, limited to being wives and mothers. Catherine Bishop's marvellously researched book completely changes our understanding. Through extensive cross-checking of different kinds of records (such as trade directories, newspapers, and personal accounts) Bishop has given us a startling, fact-based picture of colonial Sydney. Suddenly we see the numerous women running boarding houses, taverns, shops, and various kinds of schools, even owning property. They may have been largely excluded from politics and professions, and subject to coverture, but they were astute and active participants in…