A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46

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33

Housewives - Social Analysis

Only amongst Housewives were calls made representative of Social stratification. These calls were dispersed regionally as follows:-

Housewives South Midland North
1,020 343 432 245

Corset worn at interview

A B C D Total
Suspender Belt Boned 6 9.2 7 4.7 12 2.5 7 2.2 32
Unboned - - 8 5.4 32 6.7 10 3.1 50
Pull-on Elastic Belt Boned 5 7.7 4 2.7 14 2.9 9 2.8 32
Unboned 8 12.4 21 14.2 27 5.8 16 5.0 72
Rubber corset Boned 1 1.5 1 0.7 4 0.8 7 2.2 13
Unboned - - - - 3 0.6 4 1.2 7
Other type of Corset Boned 28 43.0 81 54.5 294 61.8 217 67.5 620
Unboned 4 6.2 3 2.0 20 4.2 7 2.2 34
Corselette Boned 7 10.8 11 7.4 42 8.8 14 4.3 74
Unboned 2 3.1 3 2.0 10 2.1 11 3.4 26
Expectant Mother’s Corset 1 1.5 4 2.7 2 0.4 1 0.3 8
Surgical Corset - - 4 2.7 7 1.5 5 1.5 16
None 3 4.6 1 0.7 9 1.9 14 4.3 27
Total 65 148 476 322 1,011

Brassiere worn at interview

Class Boned Unboned No Brassiere Total
A 7 11.0 30 46.0 28 43.0 65
B 18 12.4 52 35.8 75 51.8 145
C 40 8.6 134 28.7 290 62.5 464
D 27 8.4 85 27.0 204 64.6 316
34

Housewives - Prices of Foundation Garments Breakdown by social class

Prices of Corsets or Belts.

A B C D Total
No. % No. % No. % No. %
Over 1/6-2/6. - - - - 2 0.4 4 1.3 6
Over 2/6-3/6 - - - - 18 3.8 11 3.5 29
Over 3/6-4/11 1 1.5 10 6.8 77 16.2 49 15.4 137
Over 4/11-7/6 3 4.6 11 7.5 87 18. 79 24.8 180
Over 7/6-10/11 10 15.4 22 14.9 125 26.3 93 29.2 250
Over 10/11-15/11 4 6.1 27 18.3 81 17.0 39 12.3 151
Over 15/11-19/11 4 6.1 16 10.8 19 4.0 6 1.9 45
Over 19/11-30/- 18 27.7 21 14.2 24 5.0 12 3.8 75
Over 30/--40/- 4 6.1 13 8.8 9 1.9 5 1.6 31
Over 40/--60/- 10 15.4 20 13.5 8 1.7 3 0.9 41
Over 60/- 9 14.0 6 4.1 5 1.0 3 0.9 23
Homemade - - - - 2 0.4 - - 2
Don’t Know - - 1 0.6 12 2.5 14 4.4 27
0 2 3.1 1 0.6 7 1.5 - - 10
Total 65 148 476 318 1,007

Prices of Brassieres

A B C D Total
No. % No. % No. % No. %
Over 1/6-2/6 1 1.5 1 1.4 24 13.5 19 16.1 45
Over 2/6-3/6 - - 7 9.9 58 32.8 39 33.0 104
Over 3/6-4/11 7 10.8 19 26.7 62 35.0 33 28.0 121
Over 4/11-7/6 11 17.0 18 25.5 17 9.6 8 6.8 54
Over 7/6-10/11 11 17.0 16 22.5 3 1.7 - - 30
Over 10/11-15/11 3 4.6 3 4.2 4 2.3 3 2.5 13
Over 15/11-19/11 - - 2 2.8 1 0.6 - - 3
Over 19/11-30/- 2 3.1 - - 1 0.6 - - 3
Over 30/- - 40/- - - - - - - - - -
Over 40/- - 60/- - - - - - - - - -
Over 60/- - - - - - - - - -
Homemade - - 1 1.4 1 0.6 4 3.4 6
Don’t Know 1 1.5 3 4.2 5 2.8 11 9.3 20
0 29 44.6 1 1.4 1 0.6 1 0.8 32
Total 65 71 177 118 431
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