David --
    I was told by Joy Moser of WHO in the late 1970s that the
law/regulations had been changed then in Britain so that the wife (spouse?)
had a right to know what the husband (spouse?) was being paid.  This was a
response to the fact that a working class custom still at that time in
Britain was for the man to take out his "spending money" and give the rest
to the wife for household expenses.  And when he got a raise, it was very
tempting just to keep on handing over the same amount....
    You will find much manoeuvring around paydays and drinking, with women
usually playing a leading role, in developing societies today.  In Port
Moresby, PNG, at least as of a few years ago, liquor stores were closed on
Friday because it was payday.  In Tennent's Creek, Northern Territory,
Australia, an aboriginal interest group, with much input from women, managed
to get the local pubs closed on the day the welfare and paychecks arrived --
the slogan was "buy the food first!".  See Alexis wright, Grog War, Broome,
WA: Magabala Books Aboriginal Corporation, 1997.   Robin


----- Original Message -----
From: "David M. Fahey" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: den 1 september 2000 16:55
Subject: paydays and pay periods


> I come from a railroading family.   My father was a machinist, working for
> several decades for the New York Central (now Penn Central).  I recall
> being told that the unions had arranged with management to change from a
> monthly (?) pay period to a weekly one.  A protest from wives, who feared
> that more frequent paydays would mean more frequently drunken husbands,
> forced a compromise (bi-weekly, perhaps).  My memory of all of this is
> hazy.  I think that the time was late 1940s.  Does anyone else know of
> cases of gendered protests against frequent paydays as a result of paydays
> being associated with drunkenness and squandering family resources?