1930s-1940s: (N’Zengou-Tayo on Working-Class Women’s Financial Skills — Francophone Caribbean Scholar Marie-José N’Zengou-Tayo Showing That Market Women Farm…

1930s-1940s: (N’Zengou-Tayo on Working-Class Women’s Financial Skills — Francophone Caribbean Scholar Marie-José N’Zengou-Tayo Showing That Market Women Farmers Day Laborers and Domestic Workers Among Working-Class and Peasant Women Were Far More Advanced in Terms of Financial Independence and Entrepreneurial Skills Than Their Urban Middle-Class Counterparts Who Were Working — This Relative Freedom and Familiarity with Finances Documented in Comhaire-Sylvain’s Story of Adelsia, Whose Narrative Also Reinforcing That Women in Wealthier Classes Had Greater Access to Social Mobility Than Was Afforded to Peasant or Working-Class Women): Francophone Caribbean scholar Marie-José N’Zengou-Tayo showed that market women, farmers, day laborers, and domestic workers among working-class and peasant women were far more advanced in terms of financial independence and entrepreneurial skills than their urban middle-class counterparts. This relative freedom and familiarity with finances was documented in Comhaire-Sylvain’s story of Adelsia. Yet Comhaire-Sylvain’s narrative of Adelsia’s life also reinforced that women in wealthier classes had greater access to social mobility than was afforded to peasant or working-class women — the paradox was sharp: the women who handled money every day were more financially literate than those who had university degrees, but financial literacy did not translate into class mobility.