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Story: Men and women in the city

Suburban stay-at-home mum

Image
Suburban stay-at-home mum

For much of the 20th century a suburban woman’s main role was as a stay-at-home parent: raising children and keeping house, epitomised in this 1989 image of a young mother and her children.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP/1989/2196/2

by John Nicholson

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Caroline Daley, Men and women in the city – Suburban women, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/24598/suburban-stay-at-home-mum (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Caroline Daley, published 17 December 2009.