"Life in the Great Depresion - long lines of unemployed, soup kitchens, men riding the rails, public works projects - these are the graphic images of the Great Depression of the 1930s, popularized by the press and seared into our memories."--BOOK JACKET. "How did the families survive when the principal breadwinner was unemployed? How did they feed, shelter and clothe themselves when the relief payments covered barely half of their essential needs? To answer these questions Denyse Baillargeon looks at the contribution of the housewives. By interviewing Montreal francophone women who were already married at the beginning of the 1930s, and by examining their principal responsibilities, she uncovers the alternative strategies these housewives used to counter poverty."--BOOK JACKET.