Market and Labour Opportunities as a Driving Factor? Explaining the Gendered Literacy Disparities in the Eighteenth-Century Antwerp Countryside

Abstract

This article investigates regional and gender disparities in literacy in the eighteenth-century countryside of the Southern Low Countries, comparing the Campine area and the Scheldt Polder region. We explore the socioeconomic drivers behind divergent literacy rates by drawing on a rich combination of quantitative and qualitative sources – including marriage certificates, probate inventories, and school enrolment data. Contrary to prevailing narratives of widespread illiteracy in Catholic rural regions, the Campine area displayed unexpectedly high levels of literacy, particularly among women. The analysis reveals that this disparity cannot be attributed solely to the presence of schools but must also be understood through the lens of labour market structures and gendered economic roles. The study shows that in the Campine region, smallholder farming and especially dairy production created commercial incentives for women to invest in basic literacy skills, unlike the more unequal, arable farming-based economy of the Scheldt polders. By integrating both macro-level data and micro-historical insights, the article challenges traditional assumptions about rural education and highlights the critical role of gendered economic agency in shaping literacy outcomes.