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The making of a 'domestic' life: memories of a working woman

The making of a 'domestic' life: memories of a working woman
The making of a 'domestic' life: memories of a working woman
Louise Jermy's autobiography, Memories of a Working Woman (1934), has been described as 'a record of ill-luck, ill-health, poverty and disaster met with courage'. This article discusses Jermy's memoir both for the individual narrative and as a starting-point for consideration of the wider issues that surrounded the making of this 'domestic life'. While Jermy's life in domestic service was bound by home (her own and other people's), her story tempers our understanding of the limited choices open to working-class women. It provides insight into the regional disparities in female employment: Jermy's life journey took her from the Broadlands Estate in Hampshire to extended periods of urban life (in London and Birmingham), concluding in rural Norfolk. There, Jermy ended her working life as her maternal grandmother had done, laundress to the 'big house'. Yet whereas the grand mother spent her final years in the workhouse, Jermy died in her own home, leaving modest savings. A member of the largest women-only organization in interwar England, the Women's Institute, which encouraged her to tell her story, she identified with its view of domestic work as skilled work. Although she did not challenge her position in the social or gender hierarchy, she developed a strong sense of self-worth throughout her working life
0961-5652
253-268
McDermid, Jane
042b4e1a-165b-482a-a081-e8dc9a92fe19
McDermid, Jane
042b4e1a-165b-482a-a081-e8dc9a92fe19

McDermid, Jane (2008) The making of a 'domestic' life: memories of a working woman. Labour History Review, 73 (3), 253-268. (doi:10.1179/174581808X374798).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Louise Jermy's autobiography, Memories of a Working Woman (1934), has been described as 'a record of ill-luck, ill-health, poverty and disaster met with courage'. This article discusses Jermy's memoir both for the individual narrative and as a starting-point for consideration of the wider issues that surrounded the making of this 'domestic life'. While Jermy's life in domestic service was bound by home (her own and other people's), her story tempers our understanding of the limited choices open to working-class women. It provides insight into the regional disparities in female employment: Jermy's life journey took her from the Broadlands Estate in Hampshire to extended periods of urban life (in London and Birmingham), concluding in rural Norfolk. There, Jermy ended her working life as her maternal grandmother had done, laundress to the 'big house'. Yet whereas the grand mother spent her final years in the workhouse, Jermy died in her own home, leaving modest savings. A member of the largest women-only organization in interwar England, the Women's Institute, which encouraged her to tell her story, she identified with its view of domestic work as skilled work. Although she did not challenge her position in the social or gender hierarchy, she developed a strong sense of self-worth throughout her working life

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Published date: December 2008

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 73476
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/73476
ISSN: 0961-5652
PURE UUID: c4acd9ee-1e81-4151-8625-26e6d2d22278

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Date deposited: 09 Mar 2010
Last modified: 13 Mar 2024 22:06

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Author: Jane McDermid

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