25move produced major changes in family dynamics and in the gender
division of labour, particularly as more women entered the labour market
(Wall et al. 2013 ). Emigration flows, which had been high since the mid-
nineteenth century, were intense during the 1960s and early 1970s
(Peixoto 1999 ). Driven by poor living standards and few job opportuni-
ties, close to 1.5 million Portuguese migrated to Central Europe (mostly
to France, Germany, and Luxembourg) and to the Portuguese African
colonies (Angola and Mozambique) between 1958 and 1974. In fact,
notwithstanding the short period following the 1974 Revolution, migra-
tion flows to European countries continued to be high throughout the
1980s and 1990s (Baganha and Peixoto 1997 ) and again in the first
decade of the twenty-first century (Pires et al. 2014 ).
During the 1960s national liberation wars started in Angola (1961),
Guinea-Bissau (1964), and Mozambique (1964). As hundreds of thou-
sands of men were conscripted and sent to fight in Africa, the scarce
resources of the impoverished rural areas of the country were further
exhausted. Moreover, despite the industrial growth of the previous two
decades, up until the mid-1970s Portugal remained a mostly agrarian
country.
Until the democratic revolution, the male breadwinner model,
Catholic marriage, high birth rates, and strong gender inequalities in
both private and public spheres were the core characteristics of family life
in Portugal (Wall 2011 ). In the absence of a Welfare State supporting
families and the care of dependent persons, family obligations were strong
not only within the nuclear family but also across the generations and
regarding distant kin such as aunts and uncles. Co-residence of several
generations within the same household was an important form of sup-
port, during life stages such as the beginning of married life and old age.
However, as in other European societies, the nuclear family household
was the predominant form, with extended family households represent-
ing only one in eight households in mid-twentieth century Portugal
(Almeida et al. 1998 ).
Taking a longer historical view, the tradition of the stem family, based
on long-term co-residence of different generations in traditional rural
societies, was found to be predominant in well-off landed peasant fami-
lies (Rowland 1997 ). It represented an important ideal norm but was
Contextualising Personal Networks Across Birth Cohorts...