Género y cambio tecnológico: Rentabilidad económica y política del proceso de industrialización del monopolio de tabacos en España (1887–1945)

This article analyses the private management of the Spanish Tobacco Monopoly by the Compañía Arrendataria de Tabacos (CAT) from a Gender perspective. What difference did female labour make in the modernisation process carried out by the CAT? This company which in 1887 was the biggest single industrial employer of the country, slowly mechanised the workshops and reduced the workforce by a 70% during the period of its management (1887–1945). This article shows how a number of factors attributed to women's work, such as smaller labour costs, low degree of unionisation and high flexibility were essential in explaining the techno-labour system implemented by the CAT, and the economic and political profitability of its management.