She was homeschooled and later became one of the most important female voices in the history of economics.
Throughout history, the economy was not a space allowed for women. However, in recent decades there have been cases of figures who changed this paradigm and managed to leave their mark on world economic history.
Such is the case of Mary Paley MarshallBritish economist who was one of the first women to take the university entrance exam. His life was marked by rejections, his struggles and his triumphs.
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A tireless fighter for equal pay
Mary Paley Marshall was born on October 24, 1850 in Lincolnshire, United Kingdom. A relative of the philosopher and theologian William Paley, he was homeschooledand in 1871 she received a scholarship and entered as one of the first five students of the recently founded University of Newnham in Cambridge.
She was one of the best in her class, but she couldn’t graduate because she was a woman.. However, that did not stop her, and from 1875 to 1876 she taught at Newnham. Later, together with her husband Alfred Marshall, she founded the Department of Economics at the University of Bristol.
Marshall highlights Mary Paley as a fundamental figure in his workwhich includes Principles of Economics (1890), the basis of the education of generations of economists for decades.
Several Paley reviews show their tireless fight for equal pay and working conditionsas can be read in the analysis of a text from 1895, where she questions the conditions of women workers in textile factories in a German region.
In another review you can read her position as well as that of other influential women of the time, such as Mrs. Sidgwick, Miss Pycroft or Mrs. Webb. Various topics were discussed here, such as the position of teachers in teaching, the training of women to better perform household chores, and labor restrictions and regulations to achieve improvements in the economic and working conditions of working women.
With his knowledge, Paley sought point out the degraded role that women had in societyfrom the decline in jobs in the industry to low wages. After the death of her husband in 1924Mary became Honorary Librarian of the Marshall Library of Economics in Cambridgeto which she donated her husband’s collection of articles and books.
Source: Ambito
