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Looking through the eyes of families: The methods of ‘oral history’
An essay about the character of working class family life in the post-1945 period in
Scotland, with special attention on the notion of ‘gender apartheid’ in the workplace.
Not so long ago history was, for the most part, a construction made by men and the female
side of events was often excluded.1 Strange, because in many aspects of family life women
played a mayor part and moreover their part changed significantly in the twentieth century. In
secondary literature scholars often mention individualisation, democratization, higher
education, the decline of fertility and the abandonment of the separate spheres as the most
important changes.2 In the period before, between the industrialisation and the First World
War, male perspective dominated. Scholars have therefore made the distinction between
‘separate spheres’.3 According to Eleanor Gordon “The key component of this ideology was
the notion that women inhabited the private world of home and family and men inhabited the
public world of the market place, citizenship and civil society.”4 This view of the world
changed after the Second World War according to some scholars. As Hilary Young points out
there was a shift from a image of the ‘hard man’ to the image of the ‘new man’.5 In this view
the ‘separate spheres’ ideology diminished and it allowed more individuality among women.
In addition this development was supported by the obligated education for women and
through the new experiences in the Second World War. In this changing world and ideology,
together with the increase in part-time job opportunities for women outside the home, more
married women found their way to the workplace. A underlying process that allowed all this
to happen was the fertility decline that was part of the more grand demographic
transformation. The living conditions of both men and women improved and this had its effect
on the whole society. The care of children after the war was simply not that time consuming
as before and as a result women had more spare time to do things outside the family. 6 Arthur
McIvor summaries this all by writing: “Women in Scotland at the end of the twentieth century
have a higher status and more respect as citizens and enjoy more autonomy, more choices and
Jane McDermid, ‘Missing persons? Women in modern Scottish history’, in Terry Brotherstone, Deborah
Symington and Oonah Walsh (eds.), Gendering Scottish History (1999), 37-45.
2
W. Knox, Industrial nation: work, culture and society in Scotland, 1800-present (Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, 1999) 251-295.
3
P. Summerfield and J. Finch, “Social Reconstruction and the Emergence of the Companionate Marriage, 194559” in: D. Clark (ed), Marriage, Domestic Life and Social Change: writings for Jacqueline Burgoyne, 1944-88,
(London, 1991).
4
Eleanor Gordon & Gwyneth Nair, Public Lives: Women, Family and Society in Victorian Britain (2003) 1.
5
Hilary Young, “Hard Man, New Man: Re/Composing Masculinities in Glasgow, c1950-2000” in: Oral History
35.1 (2007) 71-81.
6
Summerfield & Finch, “Social Reconstruction and the Emergence of the Companionate Marriage, 1945-59”.
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less prescribed existence then their Edwardian counterparts”.7 Some scholars therefore also
use the term ‘companionate marriage’ to describe the increase in equality in marriage.8
Nowadays this view is more criticized since reality seemed quite different then ideology.
This was partly due to the increase in the interest in the personal lives and stories of people
because they could show a different side of events that one otherwise failed to see. The ‘oral
history’ project of Elizabeth Roberts is a good example of this. She criticised the positive
view of women’s emancipation by arguing that the gender divisions remained strong despite
the fact that more women went to work. Roberts conclusion is therefore: “Although a
women’s place was no longer in the home, home and family nevertheless remained the
dominant concern in women’s lives.”9 This essay’s goal is also to focus on the methods of
‘oral history’ to see if it can reveal a different side about the character of working-class family
life after 1945 and the notion of ‘gender apartheid’ in the Scottish workplace between 19451970. To construct these characteristics of family life it is necessary to look at subjects related
with marriage, children, housework, income, work and the role gender plays in all of this.
Therefore these factors will be discussed using twelve transcripts of interviews taken in 2008.
Family Life
All individuals in the transcripts were married and met their partner in a dancing hall or
through work. On the other hand the opinions about the significance of marriage were quite
different. Some said that marriage wasn’t important for them10 while others said it was
important for everyone in that time11 and one women even says: “I think most young women,
you know, that’s their obvious goal.”12 Nevertheless there were also people that rather saw
marriage as something that just happened.13 The process of the fertility decline is also
reflected in the transcripts. People had less children then their parents and one man even
describes the ideal family size as two: “The gentleman’s family at that time was a boy and a
girl. That was the first two I had. The third one was a mistake (laughs)”.14
A contradiction between secondary literature and these transcripts is revealed when women
spoke about there role in family life. It seems that there was not a abandonment of the
A. McIvor, “Gender Apartheid?: Women in Scottish Society” in: Devine and Finlay (eds), Scotland in the
Twentieth Century (Edinburgh, 1996) 205.
8
Summerfield & Finch, “Social Reconstruction and the Emergence of the Companionate Marriage, 1945-59”.
9
E. Roberts, Women and Families: An Oral History, 1940-1970, (Cambridge, 1995).
10
Transcripts: 2, 3, 5, 10, 11.
11
Transcripts: 1, 7, 8.
12
Transcript: 7.
13
Transcripts: 4, 6, 9, 12.
14
Transcript: 2
7
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ideology of ‘separate spheres’ because all women in the transcripts indicate that it was their,
and not their husband, job to take care of the children and the household.15 This was usually
describe as natural and the norm when asked who did the housework: “The women, as per
usual (laughs)”16. De reason behind it was for many that men had fulltime jobs and had to do
a lot of overtime: “If you’re no’ working, you cannae expect a man that’s out working to
come hame and dae housework. So the housework was done by the time he came in”. 17 Some
men say that they helped with some aspects, especially taking care of the kids in there spare
time.18 Nevertheless women spend more time taking care of children and the household was
certainly left to the wife.19 One man let’s us see the effect of time and contemporary ideology
that influence the methods of ‘oral history’ as he constructs his answer to the question if men
helped out with children: “Ach, no’really, not they way the should be. I wasnae to bad, you
know (…) but I’m sure we coulda done more you know.”20 He is clearly reflecting back on
himself in the light of current society’s ideals.
In most transcripts people say that the mayor decisions were made together. The wife took
care of family events, the income, the expenditure and most of the time they also knew how
much money their husbands made.21 Contradictory some women also claim to have discussed
everything together but actually didn’t knew how much money their husband made. 22 This
can be a sign that people maybe reflect more positively about equality in family life through
contemporary ideas about them.
Women and Work
As stated, more women found their way into jobs after the Second World War. Still, before
that time it was normal for single women to work before marriage. All women in the
transcript also indicate that they immediately had to work after they finished school: “Well, I
had various jobs after school”23 and one women even told that when she left school a job was
already arranged: “In came fae school, “There’s a job for you to start on Monday.” “Where’s
that?” “You will find it, it’s on High Street.” The jam factory!”. 24 In addition when women
15
Transcripts: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10.
Transcript: 7.
17
Transcript: 5.
18
Transcripts: 8, 12 .
19
Transcripts: 2, 11.
20
Transcript: 8.
21
Transcripts: 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12.
22
Transcripts: 2, 5, 6, 8, 11.
23
Transcript: 4.
24
Transcript: 9.
16
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married they kept working according to the secondary literature, especially in part time jobs.
This is reflected in the transcripts since only a few women stopped working after marriage.25
One of those women states: “No, that was very, very rare. If you had. If you’d a family, you
just had to stay in the house, you know”.26 In contrast the other women worked because “they
had to” 27 to support their family. It was therefore not something all women wanted to do, but
something that was necessary.28 To the question if men worked separated or along women
there was no consensus. There were people that said that it was normal to work alongside
each other.29 On the other hand there were also people that said that it was unusual to work
next to each other30 because: “There wasn’t many”31 that did that according to one women.
However when examining the transcripts better it becomes clear that it depended on the job if
women and men worked besides each other. One man points out: “There was men and women
that worked beside each other (…) there was no women in our department, it was all men.
Because it was all machinery (…) no jobs that women could do.”32 So it seems that there was
still a notion of ‘gender apartheid’ for women in the working place. Although it was not the
strong gender division as in the century before as women were in greater numbers allowed to
work after their marriage.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that for the most part the transcripts correspond with the secondary
literature about the characteristics of family life. People got less children, influence within the
family was shared, more women were able to work after marriage and mayor decisions were
made together. Nevertheless these transcripts also show another side. Women still were the
managers of the household and spend most of their time taking care of the children and the
household. Also when women worked there still seemed to be a notion of ‘gender apartheid’.
Therefore these transcripts reveal that when women en men became more equal in some
aspects, there was still inequality. As a result of this it seems that the ideology of ‘separate
spheres’ in some extend was maintained just as Roberts argued. However one has to keep in
mind with these sources that: “Culture, understood as public discourse, has a relation to
25
Transcripts: 2, 7, 11.
Transcript : 7.
27
Transcript: 3.
28
Transcripts: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12.
29
Transcripts: 1, 2, 6.
30
Transcripts: 3, 4, 7, 10, 12.
31
Transcript: 10.
32
Transcript: 11.
26
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composure.”33 Everyone tells a story of the past in the way that it makes sense to themselves,
their surroundings and the person he/she is talking to in the present.34 In this, ‘memory’ is an
active process in which a lot is subjective to the passing of time and the selectiveness of the
human mind. And this all takes place in contemporary society’s ‘discourse’ and therefore it
can never describes the past as it really was.35 Nevertheless ‘oral history’ is a useful approach
to get information of an individual perspective and to see especially the different views next
to each other. It strength lies in showing that one story can never give the full picture or
explanation. Therefore this clearly reflects the complexity of history, something we all should
keep in mind.
1.645 words
33
Penny Summerfield, 'Culture and Composure: creating narratives of the gendered self in oral history
interviews', in: Cultural and Social History 1:1 (2004) 70.
34
J.Giles, “Narratives of gender, class and modernity in women’s memories of mid-twentieth century Britain”,
in: Signs, 28[1] (2002) 221-41.
35
L. Passerini, “Memory” in: History Workshop Journal 15 (1983) 195-196.
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Bibliography
Giles, J. “Narratives of gender, class and modernity in women’s memories of mid-twentieth
century Britain” in: Signs, 28[1] (2002) 221-41.
Gordon, E. & Nair, G. Public Lives: Women, Family and Society in Victorian Britain (2003)
1-8.
Knox, W. Industrial nation: work, culture and society in Scotland, 1800-present (Edinburgh,
1999) 251-295
McDermid, J. ‘Missing persons? Women in modern Scottish history’, in Terry Brotherstone,
Deborah Symington and Oonah Walsh (eds.), Gendering Scottish History (1999), 37-45.
McIvor, A. “Gender Apartheid?: Women in Scottish Society” in: Devine and Finlay (eds),
Scotland in the Twentieth Century (Edinburgh, 1996).
Passerini, L. “Memory” in: History Workshop Journal 15 (1983) 195-196.
Roberts, R. Women and Families: An Oral History, 1940-1970, (Cambridge, 1995).
Summerfield, P. 'Culture and Composure: creating narratives of the gendered self in oral
history interviews', in: Cultural and Social History 1:1 (2004) 70.
Summerfield, P. and Finch, J. “Social Reconstruction and the Emergence of the
Companionate Marriage, 1945-59” in: D. Clark (ed), Marriage, Domestic Life and Social
Change: writings for Jacqueline Burgoyne, 1944-88, (London, 1991).
Young, H. “Hard Man, New Man: Re/Composing Masculinities in Glasgow, c1950-2000” in:
Oral History 35.1 (2007) 71-81.
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