Before the welfare net existed, religious
orders used to catch orphans and unmarried mothers abandoned by their
families. Alan Gill writes how girls suffered under the nuns' vale of
tears.
They were called "laundry slaves" - women and teenage girls employed in commercial laundries run by Catholic religious orders, the idea being to combine rehabilitation of supposed delinquents with the chance to earn a modest profit.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/23/1050777303111.html
They were called "laundry slaves" - women and teenage girls employed in commercial laundries run by Catholic religious orders, the idea being to combine rehabilitation of supposed delinquents with the chance to earn a modest profit.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/23/1050777303111.html