"Strategic Entrepreneurship: Businesswomen and Brazilian Economic Development, 1870-1910"

Examining the various pursuits of female entrepreneurs in Rio de Janeiro between 1870-1910, this paper considers the role of gender in Brazil’s urban markets and larger national economic development. Financial records such as partnership contracts, real estate transactions, loan agreements, and commercial court cases demonstrate the active involvement of female entrepreneurs in the Rio de Janeiro market at the turn of the twentieth century. However, conclusions on the significance of their business activity remain limited. In general, the scholarship argues that women yielded to the gendered parameters of Brazil’s patriarchal society, accepting auxiliary roles appropriate to their sex. Likewise, it is often assumed that women joined formal business partnerships because they were financially obliged wives and widows, not astute businesswomen following contemporary market trends. The volume of financial transactions involving female partners questions if women were passive merchants or strategic entrepreneurs. Analyzing commercial records to understand the extent of female entrepreneurship in Rio de Janeiro, both their business activity and their business strategy, highlights how women navigated Brazil’s gendered market and contributed to the development of the nation’s economy.