Thatās exactly how my paternal grandmother was. I want to be fair in my assessment, though: she was in no way a feministā¦except where her own welfare was concerned.
Her and my grandad were hardcore Kentucky hillbillies. Neither finished high school, and TBH, she was barely literate. They followed the Southern migration north for factory jobs (he landing in the steel mills around it SW Ohio), and it was exactly as you described with your grandparents - women didnāt work, and husbands gave them an allowance (side note - thatās precisely how my parents operated, right up until they went into care, more or less).
Well, my grandmom had things she wanted that he didnāt feel was necessary, so she got a job - housekeeping at āthe āversātyāā (the local university), and it paid fairly well for what it was, being that it was a state school, and she got her own retirement to boot, so thatās what she did.
Instead of getting her fired, though, my grandadās plan was to bankrupt her - when she refused to quit, he charged her rent and utilities and groceries! He split everything right down the middle!
She called his bluff, though, and paid it, because she was making enough to do so, and still have money leftover for flowers, clothes, and all the knickknacks she liked.
She was also different from a lot of women of that time in that she absolutely did not cook. At all. She also didnāt like children at all, did the barest minimum to raise hers, and Iām fairly certain that, had she been born into different circumstances, should would have been militantly childfree - the first time I came home on leave from the Air Force, sheād asked if Iād met any girlfriends, and Iād answered that no, not really, and her response was, āIf yer smart, honey, youāll keep it that way - girls lead to chilāren and theyāll take everā lasā thing you haveā¦time
and money!ā