The first half
\nof the 19th century brought a strengthening of trade between the
\nRomanian Principalities and their neighbours, as well as an increase in the
\nnumber of merchants. In part, this was owing to a shift in the focus of trade
\nin Moldavia and Wallachia from the Ottoman Empire to other countries.
\nObviously, an overwhelming majority of the merchants of that time were men,
\ngiven that the role of women had long been confined to running the home and
\nbringing up children. However, there
\nhave been women who, under certain circumstances, took over and successfully
\nmanaged their husbands’ businesses. Nicoleta Roman, a historian with the
\nNicolae Iorga History Institute, has researched the topic and has come to some
\nconclusions:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Women were not
\nat the forefront of economic life, nor could they be in what was entirely ‘a
\nmen’s world’. However, we have examples of women purchasing, selling or
\nentering trade partnerships on their own behalf or in their husbands’ name. The
\nhusband would give her the authority to represent him in transactions with his
\npartners. But in order to get to this position, the wife had to have been
\ninvolved in the family business to such an extent that she would be familiar
\nwith the rhetoric of negotiations and would be able to keep the books. Coming
\nfrom a merchant family was a strength, in that it would help her learn more
\nquickly and put her experience to use.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
There were three
\nkinds of situations when, in the late 18th and early 19th
\nCentury, women would run trade businesses. They did that partly and
\ntemporarily, when their husbands were engaged in long-distance trade and were
\naway from home. Secondly, they were fully in charge with a business during
\nwartime, when their husbands were enrolled, and this was also a temporary
\nposition. And thirdly, women would completely and indefinitely take over a
\nbusiness when widowed. In all these situations, the respective women had long
\nbeen familiar with the enterprise and, more importantly, they were already
\naccepted by the other traders as business partners, which could only be based
\non extensive experience. And this proves that in many cases, traders’ wives
\nwere significantly involved in the family business, even if not acknowledged as
\nsuch. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Of the few women
\nwho paved their way into that world in the first half of the 19th
\nCentury, one of the best known was widow Safta Castrisiu. Nicoleta Roman told
\nus her story:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
She was the wife of the Macedo-Romanian
\nmerchant Gheorghe Castrisiu, who came to Romania from Greece and opened a small
\nshop in Bucharest. Soon, he proved his talent as a merchant and expanded his
\nbusiness to Sibiu and even Vienna. He imported from the West textiles, coffee,
\nmuslin, leather products and golden cigar cases encrusted with diamonds. There
\nis no information about his family until 1810, and from that moment on
\ncorrespondence with other merchants ceased. Nevertheless, information about his
\nwidow, Safta, started appearing, as she took over the family business and
\nstarted focusing on Bucharest and the rest of Wallachia. In 1826 she bought
\nsmall shops inside Zamfir’s Inn. At the same time, she had her own inn in
\nBucharest, on Mogosoaia Bridge, which became known as the Castrisoaia’s Inn.
\nAlso, she owned several small shops in the Izvor neighbourhood, on the bank of
\nDambovita River. One of them even had a terrace, which was apparently one of
\nthe meeting places of the 1848 revolutionaries. Along with taking over the
\nfamily business, Safta became the head of the family. Just like many of the
\nmerchant families of that time, Safta and her husband had planned to establish
\na genuine commercial dynasty. Unfortunately, her son, Dimitrie, died young, at
\nthe age of only 31.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Her son’s death may have triggered her wish
\nto get involved in philanthropic and social activities. Thus, in 1833, she was
\namong the donors of the first Romanian Theatre, and in 1846 she built a school
\nand a church on one of her countryside properties. After her death, in 1862,
\nher will revealed the influence that Safta, the woman merchant had in the
\nBucharest community of that time. A part of her fortune was donated to ensure
\nthe maintenance of some philanthropic institutions, such as the Philanthropy
\nHospital in Bucharest and the hospital in Pitesti. Also, some of the money went
\nto the schools and churches that she had founded, helped a young student attend
\nthe university in Paris and covered the dowry of a young woman. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The destiny of Safta Castrisoaia and not
\nonly hers, is proof of the fact that starting the 19th century, an
\nincreasing number of women became active merchants, but only under certain
\ncircumstances. The main condition was for them to be widows and inherit the
\nfamily fortune, so their role was that of a temporary substitute for their
\nhusbands. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Romanian Principalities saw a boost in trade in the first part of the 19th century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":50395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45210],"tags":[45377],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-168580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rri-encyclopaedia","tag-female-merchants"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n