Job for upper-class woman in 1910

[emilyia]

Setting: Australia, 1910-1919

Comments

[cuddyclothes]

I have a book published in 1905, "The Social Secretary," in which a girl from a good family gets a job as the social secretary for a rich couple who want to rise in society (Washington DC in this one). She organizes everything, and with her upper-class savvy knows how to arrange events, which invitations to respond to, which activities to attend, etc. This book is not a romance, in fact that part is only incidental to the story. It is a step down in social standing to get a job, but from the look of things, it was not uncommon.

[criccieth]

this is from a UK perspective but an upper class woman in the UK (and don't forget, at the time you';re writing, the links between UK and Australia were even stronger than they are today) an upper class person would NOT resort to "trade". It was 'vulgar'. And I seriously doubt that the men already in the import/export or any other more respectable business would allow a woman to enter their hallowed world!

[sollersuk]

The short answer is that she wouldn't. If she was upper class, and particularly if she was married, she wouldn't need to, and if she tried to, she would be seen as taking the bread out of the mouths of men who needed to support their families. A woman with strong political views might be a teacher, but until the shortages in WWII married women were not allowed to be teachers.

[clio75]

You could make her an artist. Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith didn't really come to prominence until the 1920's but there were women painting and drawing before then. With the Bohemian influence it'd tick her guardian off.

[lilacsigil]

Married women worked as pharmacists in that time period in Australia - some were apprenticed to their fathers then later opened their own shop, some apprenticed to a relative or their husband. If her husband is a doctor, she might assist him in his office, even if she is upper class - class distinctions are often a bit iffy in Australia. If they own a farm, she might be managing that.

If she's married she would not be teaching or nursing before WWI.