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Women leaders in industry in nineteenth-century France: The case of Amélie de Dietrich

Author

Listed:
  • Herrade Igersheim

    (UNISTRA FSEG - Université de Strasbourg - Faculté des sciences économiques et de gestion - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg, BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - AgroParisTech - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • Charlotte Le Chapelain

    (CLHDPP - Centre lyonnais d'Histoire du droit et de la pensée politique - UJML - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 - Université de Lyon)

Abstract

This article traces the history of Amélie de Dietrich in her role (1806 to 1855) as the head of one of the oldest family-owned businesses in Europe: the De Dietrich Company. Economic history has long given a very minor place to women entrepreneurs. Recent analyses nevertheless tend to show that women business leaders were not exceptions in the nineteenth century. This paper is a further attempt to bring women entrepreneurs – and their contribution to the industrial take-off – out of invisibility. Amélie de Dietrich took important strategic decisions to adapt the company to the new economic opportunities which arose in the first half of the nineteenth century. Her choices were decisive for the future of the company; what is more, she succeeded in restoring the familial ownership. Drawing on Amélie de Dietrich's own unpublished correspondence, this contribution examines the factors that explain her success in imposing herself as a Maître des Forges.

Suggested Citation

  • Herrade Igersheim & Charlotte Le Chapelain, 2023. "Women leaders in industry in nineteenth-century France: The case of Amélie de Dietrich," Post-Print hal-03932370, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03932370
    DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2022.2098951
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hoffman, Philip T. & Postel-Vinay, Gilles & Rosenthal, Jean-Laurent, 1992. "Private Credit Markets in Paris, 1690–1840," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(2), pages 293-306, June.
    2. Khan, B. Zorina, 2016. "Invisible Women: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Family Firms in Nineteenth-Century France," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 76(1), pages 163-195, March.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    French industrial revolution; Entrepreneurship; Invisible women; De Dietrich Company;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N63 - Economic History - - Manufacturing and Construction - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N83 - Economic History - - Micro-Business History - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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