2 Introduction Some Facts in the Case 3 Delia was one of a sample of students from a working-class starting building a house.He eventually gave that job up because outer suburb,where she lives with her two parents,older sister it kept him away from the family too much,and went back to and older brother.Like a large proportion of the Australian work for wages.Rae,Delia's mother,also has a paid job.She is working class the family owns its own house,a comfortable brick- clerk,typist and office dogsbody for a small business selling motor veneer one,set back behind a high fence.The house was built parts.As a young woman in the late 1950s she started clerical mainly by Delia's father and a great deal of her mother's energy work in a bank but was dismissed,as a matter of bank routine, over the years has gone into keeping its interior gleaming and its when she married.She took other jobs and kept up paid work garden attractive. even when the children came along,in order to finance the house. Delia,fifteen at the time we interviewed her,is a cheerful if Her current job is(theoretically)part time.She does the family's rather quiet person,past puberty,and already equipped with a cooking and cleaning,washing,ironing and most of the childcare. steady boyfriend.From her parents'point of view she is doing While there is a strong element of'tradition'in this arrangement, well,especially as she has come through some serious medical it is also economically rational for the Princes to organize their problems and periods in hospital.She 'chatters'with her mother employment this way.The base rate of pay in Fred's occupation in the kitchen about what goes on at school,does her share of is $10 a week more than in Rae's,and actual earnings differ much housework without much grumbling and,unlike many of her peers more than that because of overtime and various penalty rates. who sneak out at night,observes the family rules about when she Equally important in a recession,Fred's job is much more secure. can go out.Basically just a normal kid'is her mother's summary. He is a member of a strong,though not exceptionally militant, Certainly Delia seems everyone's picture of a nice girl. trade union,run by men with experience much like his own,which She loves animals and so would like to become a vet.That is, has established virtually lifetime tenure for jobs at his level.Rae if she gets good enough marks at school;otherwise she will try for is covered by a union also run by men (though about two-thirds a clerical job in a bank.Her school test results at present are no of its members are women).As it happens,this is a union better than moderate;she is having trouble with maths.She gets dominated by conservative Catholic men who are not very keen along easily with most of her teachers,though there are a couple about women being permanent members of the work-force at all. she has disliked.From their point of view she is not very visible It has not established any rights of tenure or redundancy not a problem,not a star.Apart from her parents'wishes and entitlements in jobs like hers. her own vague ambition to be a veterinarian,there is nothing When I first arrived at their house to arrange the interviews, much to attach her to the school.She confesses that she would Fred came to meet me with his hands covered with oil.He had prefer to leave this year,though she expects to go on to the School been stripping down his lawnmower which had broken down Certificate assessment and leave at sixteen. because he was trying to mow wet grass in time for a christening Just a normal kid',yes;but where does that normality'come party.Rae was inside the house cooking for the party.As this from?How is it produced?And isn't there a little too much of it? illustrates,Delia is growing up among clear-cut definitions of what If we push back behind the somewhat bland appearance of Delia's is men's work and what is women's,at home as in the workplace. adolescence,some more complex and tension-laden processes The sense of what work is appropriate for a woman feeds into might come into view. Delia's ideas of possible futures.This is evident in her sex-typed To start with the economic circumstances of Delia's life,Fred interest in animals,and her idea of an alternative as a bank clerk. Prince,her father,is a tradesman with a certified skill.He does which is modelled directly on her mother's work history. not use this trade in his current job working for a public authority Despite a formal commitment to 'equal opportunity',her as leading hand in maintenance,in charge of a gang of five men. schooling does little in practice to change these ideas about work He left his trade a good many years ago to cash in on the television and the assumptions about marriage to which they are closely boom,setting up a small business installing aerials.Working very tied.Most of Delia's female friends and peers expect to get married long hours he made enough money to buy a block of land and fairly young and have children quite soon.So does she;she can