4 Introduction Some Facts in the Case 5 even name the age-twenty-at which she expects to get married. were not involved.Earlier this year Rae leant that Delia was in There are some feminist teachers at her school who have different a group that smoked and got drunk at weekends;she exerted notions of what women might aim for.But as their ideas centre herself,successfully,to separate Delia from them.Yet Fred and on'careers'for women and advancement through higher education, Rae are not opposed to Delia having an active social life.The they only make much sense to the girls in the 'A'stream-who boyfriend is not only approved of,but,astonishingly,he seems to are the only ones,in a working-class school,likely to have any have been chosen by the parents.At least they introduced him to chance of going to college or university.Delia is not one of them. Delia. Yet Delia's future is not being constructed in a closed system. Behind this constant management of the children is a structure There are changes going on,even in small details.Her mother of authority that makes Fred,very definitely,the 'head of the Rae,for instance,has taught Delia's brother,as well as the two household'and Rae the second-in-command.He is self-confident girls,to cook.On larger issues there is significant tension,even in public,she is not.He contrasts his own behaviour with that of contradiction.Rae herself had done well at school and was obliged his father,'a hard man'(read:violent)who would belt even an to leave before she wanted to,to help her widowed mother.She eighteen year old for bad manners at table.Fred reports with had wanted to become a nurse but her boyfriend(Fred)did not some complacency that he has thrashed each of his children once, like the idea,so she gave it up.Her mild comment,'it's my only hard,and never needed to again.Now he is able to control them regret now',is the nearest she gets in the interview to expressing by 'applied psychology'.We did not ask if Rae was included in anger against Fred. the thrashings.(Statistics on domestic violence suggest that at Even more striking is the fact that Rae kept a job when the least a quarter of all wives have been assaulted by their husbands children were young.This was for a 'good'reason,to pay for the at some time.)Fred puts a lot of energy into coaching local junior house,but still violated an almost universal Australian doctrine football teams and is president of their club;Rae is the treasurer. that mothers should stay home with their pre-school children-a He takes,as a right,a couple of nights out for beers with the boys doctrine duly recited and endorsed by Delia.Rae was defensive each week.Rae,even if she felt it the thing to do,does not have and 'guilty'(her word)about this and has probably come in for the time. a lot of criticism from relatives.She seems to have tried to Clearly this is only the beginning of an analysis of Delia's compensate by being the perfect wife-and-mother ever since.One circumstances.It is perhaps enough to show that what lies behind result is overload,doing a full-time job at home and a nearly full- her relationship with school and intentions about leaving,the time job at work.At thirty-eight she already looks worn and her original question in our research,is a very complex interplay of manner is a little stressed and abrupt.Even Delia,with perception personal and social forces.Much of this has to do with her family's unusual in a fifteen year old,thinks that the job is good for Rae class situation,as educational sociology has long insisted.But as but that she is working too hard. much has to do with the fact that she is a young woman,growing Both Rae and Fred have a clear idea of what a good family is. up in a setting where relations between women and men work in Both have sacrificed something in their own lives to make it a particular way. possible and both have invested a lot of emotion and energy in We cannot understand Delia's life without having a way of trying to produce it.Delia,the youngest child,is now the focus understanding the division of labour between women and men in of that process.Where Rae's mother had never spoken of sex,Rae her houschold,in other families she encounters,in Rae's and and Fred have organized 'round-table sex talks'with their children. Fred's workplaces and in the school.We need to understand the They have tried to be more humane than their own parents power relations between husbands and wives,between men without losing control of the kids.They closely monitor what is and women in trade unions and companies and in voluntary going on in the teenage peer groups.Fred heard rumours of'sex, organizations like the football club.We need to understand how drugs,playing up in toilets'at the school,so he went and challenged Rae's femininity and Fred's masculinity are constructed,how the teachers about it,to be reassured that Delia and her sister Delia's sexual awakening is being managed,how images of