ABSTRACT
In contrast to male waged workers, female workers experience discontinuity in their paid working lives. Periods of employment are followed by time spent in the home childrearing. Office work equipped the women with some skills such as typing, enabling them to return relatively easily to employment after having children. As unskilled or semi-skilled workers work offered only boredom, monotony and low wages. The women discussed work in relation to their private lives in the family while men related work to the public world. The men were more politicised in their views concerning employment and several adhered to traditional Labour Party ideology. The oppressive experiences within the home ironically resulted in a way forward in the women’s live and provided the possibility of liberation. Domesticity encouraged the women to reflect upon their lives resulting in gender consciousness. Work, childrearing and housework had consumed their lives.
