The Story of the Working Women

Shakespeare and his contemporaries often wrote of queens and noblewomen, but what was daily life like for lower class women of the era who had to scratch out their own living?

Christi Spain-Savage, Ph.D. associate professor of English, explores this in her new book Narratives of Working Women in Early Modern London: Gendering the City, which was published in August by Medieval Institute Publications/Degruyter. Her research analyzes depictions of non-elite women in the late sixteenth to mid-seventeenth century, who worked in specific London neighborhoods and sites that are featured in early modern drama and culture. Details in the writing offers a glimpse into what their lives were like if they sold fish, told fortunes, or sewed clothes instead of having a role at court.

"I knew I wanted to write about working women, not queens," said Spain-Savage, whose book grew out of research she conducted for her doctoral dissertation.

She explained that early modern writers linked working women to certain specific locations, which impacts them historically. For example, the difference between selling wares in the street versus a dedicated marketplace might not seem significant, but placing them in a street locale can serve to delegitimize their work and by extension, the women themselves.

"Women can be aligned with certain places sometimes to their detriment and sometimes to their benefit," she said.

Spain-Savage explored the writings of Thomas Middleton, Ben Jonson, Thomas Heywood and other early modern authors to learn that working women of the period exerted more personal agency than we might imagine by creating their own working spaces, business networks and financial goals.

"Some women owned their own shops, and leased space to other women," she said. "I'm proud of the regular women who tried to make their way in London. Most historical records are only for women of a certain class, but for others, details in literature can allow us to piece together what their lives were like. They weren't all in the same situation, and were able to exert influence in different ways, and in different spheres."

Spain-Savage teaches courses in Shakespeare, Survey of English Literature I, Great Books, and honors seminars such as Race on the Renaissance Stage and Gender and Violence in Shakespeare's England. Chloe Partridge '25 received her bachelor's degree in English this May and is now in the English graduate program at Boston College.

"I had the privilege of studying under Dr. Spain-Savage at Siena, and it was through her enthusiastic spirit and unwavering support that I found myself immersed in the early modern era," said Partridge. "It is because of her tenacity and encouragement to dig deeper, think harder, and truly endeavor to excel as a student and an individual that I chose to continue my studies at the graduate level. I hope to someday emulate her vibrancy and passion for teaching within my own career."