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Who wanted the crèches? Working mothers and the birth-rate in France 1900–1950
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 January 2009
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1 Kamerman, S. B., ‘Work and family in industrialized societies’, Signs 4 (1979), 642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2 There were only about 17,000 full-time places in 1960, and less than 30,000 in 1970: David, M. and Lézine, I., Early child care in France, (New York, 1975), 72Google Scholar. The latest figures available at the time of writing are from Femmes en chiffres (INSEE, Paris, 1986)Google Scholar and refer to the situation in 1982: there were 78,704 places in classic crèches collectives; a further 40,270 were in crèches familiales, a smaller and more flexible formula which is expanding rapidly; 196,000 children with child-minders and about 12,000 in private kindergarten. Over 50 per cent of children under three were being cared for at home with their mothers. The number of live births per annum in present-day France is about 750,000, and the highest single total was 872,800 (in 1949) so there would normally be upwards of 2 million children under three in the country. For detailed figures of the French population since 1914, see Dupâquier, J. et al. , Histoire de la population française, vol. 4 (PUF, 1988).Google Scholar
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4 For analysis of the period before 1940, see Daric, Jean, L'activité professionnelle des femmes en France, étude statistique (Cahier no. 5 de 1'INED, Paris, 1947)Google Scholar. The main figures are presented in accessible form by Sullerot, Evelyne in her chapter ‘Condition de la femme’ in Sauvy, Alfred ed., Histoire économique de la France entre les guerres, vol. III (Paris, 1983)Google Scholar, and by Bouchardeau, Huguette, Pas d'histoire les femmes (Paris, 1977)Google Scholar. See also Tilly, Louise and Scott, Joan, Women, work and family (New York, 1979)Google Scholar and for recent trends, Thébaud, Françhise, ‘Sexual inequality in France in the 20th Century’, in Morris, P. ed., Equality and inequalities in France (Nottingham, 1984).Google Scholar
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52 Oeuvre nouvelle des crèches parisiennes, brochure of 1925, in Archives of the Paris Préfecture of Police, dossier ‘Crèches’, B/D203; Stauss's speech is on page 35. My italics.
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