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"On trial, temporarily" - Women in the Živnostenská bank in Moravia and Silesia before 1920

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2019

Abstract

This paper deals with the first women employed by Živnostenská bank before the year 1920, based on the analysis of so-called employee books and personal files. The article focuses on Moravia and Silesia region.

The reviewed time period was the time of accelerated development of the tertiary sector, when bank institutions were becomming stronger and when the banking operations were increased in their volumes. Working in banks thus on trial necessarily had to specialize even more and innovate their organizational structures.

All of this led to massive recruitment of the employees with a growing proportion of women. Technical innovations opened up the doors of Živnobanka bank to them.

However, access to a qualified activity in the bank was conditioned with the acquisition of a professional business education, which began to be fully established at the end of the 19th century. The female workforce in banks increased significantly as a result of war events.

Although it was a workforce hired temporarily, their mass layoffs after the war did not happen.