Magdaline
the pregnancy issue.Married women gave up jobs here on marriage.Unless in a family business.that could be shop or farm.Widows were prefered and all our dinner ladies were such women.when the new town was built factories had swing shifts and then openings occurred.which meant these women workd twice as hard.They did prosper and many couples then bought theie own home.At the time the right to buy a council built home became law..fine for those first tenents but sadly housing stock is depleted..
As well as not going out for the last weeks of gestation women whispered about "when they were better" as a girl I puzzeled about what illness they had and how they knew exactly when they would get "better"
Also worn were smocks over their clothes to hide their baby bump.I actually have similar tops this year but alas no baby bump