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Loading... Bread winner : an intimate history of the Victorian economy (edition 2020)by Emma Griffin
Work InformationBread Winner: An Intimate History of the Victorian Economy by Emma Griffin
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The overlooked story of how ordinary women and their husbands managed financially in the Victorian era ? and why so many struggled despite increasing national prosperityNineteenth century Britain saw remarkable economic growth and a rise in real wages. But not everyone shared in the nation ?s wealth. Unable to earn a sufficient income themselves, working-class women were reliant on the ?breadwinner wage ? of their husbands. When income failed, or was denied or squandered by errant men, families could be plunged into desperate poverty from which there was no escape.Emma Griffin unlocks the homes of Victorian England to examine the lives ? and finances ? of the people who lived there. Drawing on over 600 working-class autobiographies, including more than 200 written by women, Bread Winner changes our understanding of daily life in Victorian Britain. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)941.081History and Geography Europe British Isles Historical periods of British Isles 1837- Period of Victoria and House of Windsor Victoria 1837-1901LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (4)
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Wikipedia in English
1
As we are often told by some historians, Victorian Britain was a ‘Golden Age’ or ‘The Age of Decadence’, it may have been for some, but for 75% of the country it was not. That 75% were the working class, poor and some in dire poverty, rammed together in the most overcrowded areas of our town and cities. The majority of people did not have houses in the suburbs, with running water, gardens and space.
Emma Griffin has looked at how the majority tried to survive in the Victorian Economy and the reality of life, especially for women. What screams loudly through this wonderful exploration of history, is how gendered Victorian society was. To quote professor Griffin “Britain was much richer in 1914 that at anytime previously, but it was still a gendered society in which men earned the bread and women baked it!”
By viewing how the domestic situation, we can see the many challenges working class families encountered, from the cost of foods and that by viewing the diet we are provided with a unique window on the living standards of the lower classes. If men earned the money, could they always be relied up to hand over a fair proportion to support the home, and sometimes this was not the case.
Professor Griffin also uses some working-class autobiographies to illustrate her points, and these speak loudly throughout the book. What does strike the reader, is that the autobiographies of the working-class do not turn into a misery memoir but are rather stoic. But what we do see from these is that hunger was unpleasant and memorable. Whilst that there were many reasons for this, these are investigated with fairness and no bias.
What you do learn from this book is how apparent that not everyone shared in the nations wealth, and at the heart of Victorian Society was a gendered inequality. By grasping this basic but simple truth can we truly start to grasp the meaning of economic growth in Victorian Britain. What also happens is that you are able to re-evaluate the concept of the Victorian family, and those that survived, really need our admiration and respect. (