The Timing and Prevalence of Women's Marriage in the French Department of the Loire, 1851-1891

This article examines the determinants of the timing and prevalence of female marriage in a sample of 33 rural villages in the French department of the Loire in the second half of the nineteenth century when the area was beginning to experience a demographic transition. Data from 1851 and 1891 are used in the analysis. The conclusions reached are that both timing and prevalence tended to be determined by similar factors Marriage chances were structured by demographic factors, with mortality in 1851 and the sex ratio in 1891 being significant deter minants. Socioeconomic factors exerted a relatively weak influence, and especially striking is the absence of any significant effect of rural industry on either the timing or the prevalence of marriage. Cultural factors, by contrast, were very significant: isolation, in 1851, and linguistic particularism, political conservatism, and female literacy in 1891 all supported traditional pat terns of restricted marriage. The unusual direction of the influence of literacy is attributed to the overwhelming role of the Catholic Church in providing education for women in the rural parts of the department