Drawing on both historical and contemporary European case-studies, this book offers an account of the relationship between gender and well-being. It focuses on key discussions of the changing conceptions of well-being from early twentieth century calculations of the relationship between income and the cost-of-living.

This book is the first of four books based on a series of symposia funded by COST, which is an intergovernmental framework for the promotion of European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research. It draws on both historical and contemporary European case-studies to offer a sophisticated account of the relationship between gender and well-being. The authors focus on key discussions of the changing conceptions of well-being from early twentieth century calculations of the relationship between income and the cost-of-living, to more recent critiques from feminist writers. Their fascinating answers allow them to significantly challenge the issue with the idea that well-being is not only associated with income or opulence but also relates to more abstract concepts including capabilities, freedom, and agency of different women and men and will be of considerable interest to economic and social historians, sociologists of health, gender, sexuality and economists.

'This fine book offers an important contribution to our understanding of the many dimensions of well-being. The historical and contemporary studies in this volume demonstrate that for a proper understanding of human well-being, we have to pay due attention to gender issues. Students, scholars and policy makers across the social sciences and humanities will find this a valuable collection.' Ingrid Robeyns, Erasmus University, The Netherlands 'This collection explores the impact of economic and social change on male and female lives. Inspired by Amartya Sen's influential critique of traditional indicators of well-being, the authors bring fresh ideas to his capability perspective. The contributors display practical experience, deep historical understanding and a willingness to talk across time, space, and disciplines. The result will be of great value to researchers in this hugely important field.' Jane Humphries, University of Oxford, UK