With her VICI grant, Dr Manon van der Heijden (Social History) will for the coming five years be investigating women’s share in criminal activity in Europe between 1600 and 1900. She wrote a proposal for NWO, suggesting a comparative study on England, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. ‘I am really happy that the grant was awarded,’ she laughs, ‘because I have been fantasizing about this topic ever since graduating. My master’s thesis dealt with the criminality of women in 18th century Rotterdam. Even then I noticed how high the percentage of women involved in criminal activity was.’

The fact that the topic has not so far made it to the historical research agenda is the result of modern frames of reference, writes Van der Heijden. ‘In the twentieth century only ten percent of crimes were committed by women, so we automatically assume that this was also the case before.’

With her research, she wishes to prove the opposite, and will in the process be consulting legal sources throughout Europe. In this context she will be investigating offences by both men and women. ‘Comparison is the only way in which you can investigate what the ratios are, whether men and women committed different types of crimes, and why that was the case,’ she explains. ‘Historians once assumed for instance that it was not so much that female criminality diminished in the 18th century, but that male criminality increased. The reason was supposed to be the prosecution policy: people thought that men were by nature more aggressive and violent, and they were therefore more readily suspected and prosecuted.’

‘At the same time, women were increasingly expected to stop working, and stay in the house to take care of the children and the household. As a result, women were thought to lead a less public life and engage in less criminal activity, so they were less often prosecuted. So it’s important to not only look at figures, but also at the motives of criminals in the past and the prosecution policy of governments.’