Gender, generation and ethnicity : girls growing up in Papakura and Franklin, c.1929-1949

Abstract

This thesis focuses on both Pakeha and Maori girls who grew up in the largely rural Papakura and Franklin area in the 1930s and 1940s. Drawing upon oral histories, local' newspapers, newsletters and other surviving materials, this study firstly examines the ways in which girls' lives were constructed and impacted upon by the categories of gender, generation, ethnicity and, to a lesser degree, class. Secondly, this thesis explores young women's reactions to the boundaries and constructions of their lives. In studying the young women of this area, I am placing them within the context of both the New Zealand and international historiography on youth and gender. In order to examine the rhetoric and reality of girls' lives, this thesis focuses on several major themes: family, schooling and paid work, leisure, puberty and sexuality. In studying young women's roles within thei! households and their interactions and relationships with other family members, I question the importance of gender within these relationships as well the extent to which rural families in this area displayed 'modem' or 'traditional' attitudes towards their children. The importance of gender, as well as ethnicity, is also examined with regards to the rhetoric surrounding female education and paid work. However, in examining girls' schooling and paid work, I am also interested in girls' own experiences within these spheres and whether or not they reflected societal ideals. Similar issues are considered in relation to girls' leisure. How did gender, generation and ethnicity structure girls' recreation and how did girls respond to the constraints on their free time? I also study puberty and sexual~ty at both the level of discourse and 'lived experience', again investigating the implications of gender, generation and ethnicity. Here, I also explore whether societal constructions of female puberty and sexuality were inherently traditional or whether they reflected newer, more 'modem' attitudes. Finally, this thesis examines constructions of marriage and young women's attitudes towards this institution.