Making Do : Women, Family and Home in Montreal during the Great Depression.
Title:
Making Do : Women, Family and Home in Montreal during the Great Depression.
Author:
Baillargeon, Denyse.
ISBN:
9780889208872
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (245 pages)
Series:
Studies in Childhood and Family in Canada
Contents:
Table of Contents -- List of Tables -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Chapter 1 Domestic Labour and Economic Crisis -- Housework Is Also Work -- The Evolution of Domestic Labour before the Depression -- Oral Sources -- Chapter 2 From Birth to Marriage -- Birth Families -- Place of Birth and Residence -- Father's Occupation and Standard of Living -- Number of Children and Place in Family -- School -- Working Experience -- Domestic, Factory Hand or Salesgirl? -- Learning Domestic Work -- Chapter 3 Beyond Romance: Courtship and Marriage -- Courtship -- Finding a ''Good Husband'' -- The Wedding Day -- Setting Up Housekeeping -- The Trousseau -- Savings and Personal Property -- The First Home -- Chapter 4 Motherhood -- Sexuality and Contraception -- Motherhood -- Expecting -- Preparing for the Birth -- Giving Birth -- The Confinement -- The Care and Discipline of Children -- Infertility and Mothering -- Chapter 5 Working for Pay and Managing the Household Finances -- A Living Wage -- Income to Balance the Budget -- Odd Jobs -- Working in Your "Spare Time" -- Managing the Budget and Women's Economic Power -- Making Ends Meet -- Chapter 6 Housework -- Women's Space and Workplace -- The Neighbourhood -- Housing -- Implements of Work -- Organizing Household Tasks -- The Cycle of Household Chores -- Cutting Back on Necessities -- Chapter 7 State, Family, Neighbours, and Credit -- Government Assistance -- Unemployment and Husband-Wife Relations -- The Family -- The Neighbours -- Debt -- Conclusion -- Appendices -- Appendix A: Interview Guide -- Appendix B: Thumbnail Biographies of the Women Interviewed -- Appendix C: Scale of Winter and Summer Rations Approved by the City of Montreal (c. 1935) -- Appendix D: Furnishings Bought by an Informant upon Her Marriage in 1932 -- Appendix E: Floor Plans of Working-Class Flats.
Appendix F: Percentage of Montreal Households Owning Various Equipment 1931-1958 -- Appendix G: Household Appliances and Other Articles Used by Housewives -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W.
Abstract:
Life in the Great Depression - long lines of unemployed, soup kitchens, men riding the rails, public works projects - these are the graphic images of the Great Depression of the 1930s, popularized by the press and seared into our memories. But outside of a few distinctive stories gathered from the oral and anecdotal writings on strategies used to survive, we know next to nothing about the daily life of the working class during those long and hungry years. How did the families survive when the principal breadwinner was unemployed? How did they feed, shelter and clothe themselves when relief payments covered barely half of their essential needs? To answer these questions Denyse Baillargeon looks at the contribution of the housewives. By interviewing Montreal francophone women who were already married at the beginning of the 1930s, and by examining their principal responsibilities, she uncovers the alternative strategies these housewives used to counter poverty. Their recollections made it possible to shed light not only on the impact of the economic crisis on their household duties during the Depression but also on their lives from childhood to World War II, and on the living conditions of the working class from which most of them came. This material is all the more valuable because it proceeds from a generation of women that will soon disappear and who have left very little in the way of written evidence behind. This study, which draws us into the intricate lives of individuals, reveals a previously unexplored dimension of the Depression and shows the importance of considering the domestic sphere for understanding the complete history of the working class.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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