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Life Before The War Essay

Decent Essays
Life before the war for British women came in all different types of varieties and experiences. The global economy was still in the midst of the Great Depression and with availability of work scarce, many British women unable to find work had concentrated their efforts on the home life of their parents or husbands. For example, such was the case of Betty Nettle as she lived with her family in an area primarily focused on mining. They were a middle class British family, though with finding work required connections since “if someone had a shop, their children worked in it – or their nieces and nephew, which meant that round here, as far as work went it was who you knew, not what you knew.” As they lived in a rural area “the world (her older…show more content…
Margaret’s job was to “help with the meals: first, serve the meals in the dining room then tidy up afterwards.” She considered herself extremely fortunate if she made earned “about 20 shillings a month” and would give her mom half then keep the rest for herself. It was often expected of children to give their parents half or sometimes all of their paycheck. This factored on the financial hardship experienced at home, but even in cases of financial stability the children were still expected to help out with the expenses at…show more content…
Since Ivy had not passed this then she believed there was no longer any point for her to try to continue her education. She had not initially wanted a job, but after a “course at a local college in Birkenhead to show you how to get a job, teaching you how to behave in the adult world, instead of just being a schoolgirl.” After coming home from the course one day she saw a sign in a flower shop that needed an apprentice, with the pay of two shillings and sixpence a
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