[HPforGrownups] Re: More on Molly

[Kat Armstrong]

No: HPFGUIDX 84426

Saturday, November 8, 2003, 10:02:53 PM (according to TheBat!), you scribed:

Pen:
P> As for Petunia, I think we can reasonably assume that Vernon makes 
P> enough money to be able to afford a non-working wife, but I also see 
P> no reason to suppose that Petunia could not go out to work if she 
P> wanted to, particularly now that Dudley is off at Smeltings during 
P> term time.  I think she chooses not to work, though probably with 
P> very different motives to Molly!


I know when I was growing up it was seen very much as a class thing.
Someone in Petunia's position would not go out to work because it was
not the "done" thing to do. Wives only went out to work if it was a
glorified hobby or something "worthy". They certainly wouldn't /
couldn't be seen to be working purely for the money. The idea of women
having professional careers still hasn't reached certain (thankfully
small) sections of British society.

Just as an example, when my parents were married (1959) my mother got
her redundancy notice from work (at a bank) in the congratulations
card for the wedding, and this was considered perfectly normal.

-- 
Kat