TY - BOOK ID - 77892419 TI - Cultures of charity : women, politics, and the reform of poor relief in Renaissance Italy PY - 2013 SN - 0674071743 0674067924 9780674067929 9780674067097 0674067096 9780674071742 PB - Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, DB - UniCat KW - Charities KW - Poor KW - Women KW - Human females KW - Wimmin KW - Woman KW - Womon KW - Womyn KW - Females KW - Human beings KW - Femininity KW - Disadvantaged, Economically KW - Economically disadvantaged KW - Impoverished people KW - Low-income people KW - Pauperism KW - Poor, The KW - Poor people KW - Persons KW - Social classes KW - Poverty KW - Alms and almsgiving KW - Benevolent institutions KW - Charitable institutions KW - Endowed charities KW - Institutions, Charitable and philanthropic KW - Philanthropy KW - Poor relief KW - Private nonprofit social work KW - Relief (Aid) KW - Social welfare KW - Associations, institutions, etc. KW - Social service KW - Endowments KW - History. KW - Economic conditions KW - Societies, etc. KW - Services for KW - Bologna (Italy) KW - Bononia (Italy) KW - Bologne (Italy) KW - Bolonia (Italy) KW - Bononia Pinguis (Italy) KW - Felsina (Italy) KW - Social conditions. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:77892419 AB - Renaissance Italians pioneered radical changes in ways of helping the poor, including orphanages, workhouses, pawnshops, and women's shelters. Nicholas Terpstra shows that gender was the key factor driving innovation. Most of the recipients of charity were women. The most creative new plans focused on features of women's poverty like illegitimate births, hunger, unemployment, and domestic violence. Signal features of the reforms, from forced labor to new instruments of saving and lending, were devised specifically to help young women get a start in life. Cultures of Charity is the first book to see women's poverty as the key factor driving changes to poor relief. These changes generated intense political debates as proponents of republican democracy challenged more elitist and authoritarian forms of government emerging at the time. Should taxes fund poor relief? Could forced labor help build local industry? Focusing on Bologna, Terpstra looks at how these fights around politics and gender generated pioneering forms of poor relief, including early examples of maternity benefits, unemployment insurance, food stamps, and credit union savings plans. ER -