Sökande anses intet kunna förtjena : En analys av fattigvårdens behandling av fysiskt, kroniskt sjuka kvinnor åren 1906, 1916 och 1926 i Maria Magdalena församling på Södermalm i Stockholm

Sammanfattning: This essay examines the contact between the poor service and chronically and physically ill women during the first half of the 20th century at the Maria Magdalena parish at Södermalm in Stockholm. At the time the district was home to a substantial, poor population. Three years have been studied: 1906, 1916 and 1926 to investigate whether the amended Poor Care Act of 1918 affected the situation of the sick women. Through my results, I have not been able to see any real change except that fewer woman, in percentage terms, after 1918 were allowed to take part in the poor welfare support. The philanthropy was an important element in the lives of the poor women which diminished as time went by. My findings show that modern, medical science played a significant role in the lives of the sick women. The study also confirms that the women's behavior was the basis for the support they received from the poor service and that most of them were permanently supported and thus deprived of their right to vote. The study problematizes the stigma that the sick, poor women lived under, expectations based on gender roles connected to the possibility to receive help as well as the importance of paid work for participation in the community and a full citizenship. What is presented through the essay is that poor, sick women struggled with their livelihood during the examined period and that this group of people still do in our time in Sweden today.