Making Do: Women, Family and Home in Montreal During the Great Depression

by Baillargeon, Denyse

• ISBN13: 9780889203266
• ISBN10: 0889203261
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-10-01
• Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ Pr

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Denyse Baillargeon is an associate professor of history at Universite de Montreal.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Domestic Labour and Economic Crisis	p. 5
Housework Is Also Work	p. 9
The Evolution of Domestic Labour before the Depression	p. 11
Oral Sources	p. 14
From Birth to Marriage	p. 23
Birth Families	p. 23
Place of Birth and Residence	p. 24
Father's Occupation and Standard of Living	p. 25
Number of Children and Place in Family	p. 28
School	p. 32
Working Experience	p. 34
Domestic, Factory Hand or Salesgirl?	p. 34
Learning Domestic Work	p. 41
Beyond Romance: Courtship and Marriage	p. 47
Courtship	p. 48
Finding a "Good Husband"	p. 54
The Wedding Day	p. 58
Setting Up Housekeeping	p. 59
The Trousseau	p. 60
Savings and Personal Property	p. 61
The First Home	p. 63
Motherhood	p. 67
Sexuality and Contraception	p. 68
Motherhood	p. 75
Expecting	p. 77
Preparing for the Birth	p. 78
Giving Birth	p. 79
The Confinement	p. 83
The Care and Discipline of Children	p. 85
Infertility and Mothering	p. 87
Working for Pay and Managing the Household Finances	p. 91
A Living Wage	p. 92
Income to Balance the Budget	p. 95
Odd Jobs	p. 95
Working in Your "Spare Time"	p. 96
Managing the Budget and Women's Economic Power	p. 102
Making Ends Meet	p. 107
Housework	p. 113
Women's Space and Workplace	p. 114
The Neighbourhood	p. 115
Housing	p. 116
Implements of Work	p. 121
Organizing Household Tasks	p. 125
The Cycle of Household Chores	p. 128
Cutting Back on Necessities	p. 135
State, Family, Neighbours, and Credit	p. 141
Government Assistance	p. 141
Unemployment and Husband-Wife Relations	p. 150
The Family	p. 153
The Neighbours	p. 160
Debt	p. 163
Conclusion	p. 167
Appendices	p. 171
Interview Guide	p. 171
Thumbnail Biographies of the Women Interviewed	p. 177
Scale of Winter and Summer Rations Approved by the City of Montreal (c. 1935)	p. 184
Furnishings Bought by an Informant upon Her Marriage in 1932	p. 185
Floor Plans of Working-Class Flats	p. 186
Percentage of Montreal Households Owning Various Equipment 1931-1958	p. 187
Household Appliances and Other Articles Used by Housewives	p. 188
Notes	p. 193
Bibliography	p. 213
Index	p. 229
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