Diane Cady's article was a large part of the methodology of my thesis, and it's safe to say that I appreciate her work. "The Gender of Money" focuses on how money and women become associated in the medieval imaginary, specifically in how concern over the instability of money transferred to and fed concerns over dialogues of the inconstancy of women. Bringing in medieval economic thought from Aristotle and Augustine, Cady demonstrates how the language and terminology of money as a medium of exchange is applied to women. Cady reads this dynamic into the Lady Mede section of Piers Plowman and Sir Launfal, showing in the former that "women, like money, are likely to wander if they are not controlled by society" (19) and in the latter that "women threaten homosocial bonds" just as "money threatens traditional social relations" (24).
I very much enjoy this article, and I've seen Cady as a model for approaching readings of gender and economics. This read through was more elucidating than in the past as I had better context for Cady's brief overview of the changing role of money in the late medieval European economy. Moreover, I think that Oresme's concerns could also be folded into this reading, as he is specifically worried about the reprinting and devaluing of money and raises specific issues that would be interesting to bring into the perceptions of women, notably the socially disruptive aspects of inconstant currency.
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