'Making ends meet' : working-class women's strategies against poverty in West Oxfordshire, c.1850-1900
This thesis seeks to contribute to two areas of historical enquiry: the history of women and the history of poverty, by investigating the strategies used by women to cope with poverty. It attempts this in a systematic way by applying a taxonomy of strategies to the case study area of West Oxfordshire from the mid-to-late nineteenth century. As such, it broadens our understanding of the lives of women living in a rural area as well as examining poverty from the perspective of the responses to it. Three main strategies were considered; employment, household management and community strategies. General results of the analysis suggest that the strategic approach is a valuable method of examining the way poor rural women coped with poverty, highlighting the interconnections between their roles of reproduction, production and consumption. Specific results suggest that first, a radical rethink of the role and importance of the home as a female power base is required. Second, although strategies are difficult to quantify, certain strategies appear to have been more popular than others; household management emerged as the pivotal strategy to make ends meet. Careful spending and saving and the ability to utilise a variety
Dubber, Melanie
Poor relief; Charities; Household management
'Making ends meet' : working-class women's strategies against poverty in West Oxfordshire, c.1850-1900. This thesis seeks to contribute to two areas of historical enquiry: the history of women and the history of poverty, by investigating the strategies used by women to cope with poverty. It attempts this in a systematic way by applying a taxonomy of strategies to the case study area of West Oxfordshire from the mid-to-late nineteenth century. As such, it broadens our understanding of the lives of women living in a rural area as well as examining poverty from the perspective of the responses to it. Three main strategies were considered; employment, household management and community strategies. General results of the analysis suggest that the strategic approach is a valuable method of examining the way poor rural women coped with poverty, highlighting the interconnections between their roles of reproduction, production and consumption. Specific results suggest that first, a radical rethink of the role and importance of the home as a female power base is required. Second, although strategies are difficult to quantify, certain strategies appear to have been more popular than others; household management emerged as the pivotal strategy to make ends meet. Careful spending and saving and the ability to utilise a variety
making end meet working_class woman strategy poverty west oxfordshire seek_contribute two_area historical enquiry history woman history poverty investigate strategy_use woman cope poverty attempt systematic_way apply taxonomy strategy case_study area west oxfordshire broaden life_woman live rural_area well examine poverty perspective responses three_main strategy consider employment household management community strategy general analysis suggest strategic valuable method examine_way poor rural woman cop poverty highlight interconnection role reproduction production_consumption specific suggest first radical rethink role importance home female power base require second although strategy difficult quantify certain strategy appear popular others household management emerge pivotal strategy make end meet careful spending save ability utilise variety