“The Iron Chancellors”: The Dynamics of the Domestic Economy in Ironstone-Mining Households,1918-1964

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between the domestic economy and marital power. In particular, it considers how household income was distributed and organized and the effect this had on women's perception of their domestic power. Subsequently, it explores women's access to personal spending money and the limits of their control over important financial decisions. These issues are examined using data generated from 33 semi-structured interviews with both men and women who had lived in a household where the main breadwinner had been employed in the ironstone mines of East Cleveland in the years between 1918 and 1964. The article suggests that women's perceptions of power were, indeed, strengthened when they were in control of the household income. Nevertheless, men maintained a privileged position within the household whichever system was used to organize income. Their status as breadwinners legitimized inequalities of access to household money for personal use and their greater control over important financial decisions.