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On Tuesday 28 October, will defend her PhD dissertation ‘Het werk van bakkersvrouwen in de twintigste eeuw’. In her dissertation, Louwerse explores the roles and contributions of bakers’ wives during the twentieth century and analyses what these women meant for the bakery business, where they worked alongside their husbands.

The work of bakers’ wives

There are few written sources on the work of bakers’ wives. Therefore, Louwerse conducted interviews and distributed a written survey among bakers’ wives located outside the major cities. She drew on both the testimonies of these women and information on developments within the bakery industry to understand the significance of their work.

Bakers’ wives worked across three areas: bread production, sales, and management. They assisted in bread production until the modernisation of bakery practices. In addition, they were involved in running the business. They made the arrangements with suppliers and kept the financial records. As administrative burdens on bakeries increased due to government regulations, these women also took on more of that work, as they were already managing the administration related to bread delivery.

A central role in the bakery business

After 1960, bread delivery gradually disappeared, and the bakery shop became the main sales channel. Bakers’ wives thus took on a more prominent role in sales activities, often combined with entrepreneurship. Although the women tended to downplay their roles, they were frequently co-owners and co-entrepreneurs in the business.

Louwerse shows that throughout the twentieth century, bakers’ wives played a central role in the operation of bakeries. Small bakeries could only remain viable thanks to their contributions. These women were, on the one hand, proud of their role in the functioning of the business, but on the other hand, they often minimised their own contributions. Their work was just as vital as that of the bakers themselves, even if the women tended to downplay their role during the interviews.