12023-02-08T14:03:59-08:00Sue Luftscheinc3da4f338cfb5c3d980919bd84c8fb083c380bd64239212plain13471762023-02-15T10:37:56-08:00Sue Luftscheinc3da4f338cfb5c3d980919bd84c8fb083c380bd6Historians have estimated that approximately 130 women were working as printers in Britain between 1550 and 1650. As in other countries in Europe, women often worked alongside husbands and sons in the family printing business, and as widows, had the same opportunities as their counterparts in France to work as printers. However, unlike inheritance laws in Paris, the rules of the Stationer's Company in London did not allow widows to continue to operate their husband's businesses unless those businesses were fully licensed by the Company; even if they were, if the widow remarried anyone other than another printer, she forfeited her rights to continue running the business. But widows who ran licensed businesses were seen as highly marriageable, because apprentices could, by marrying a fully licensed widow, become a master printer without going through the licensing process.