Who Am I?

About Me — Rachel Palmąka Mace

Too posh for the pub, too working-class for university.

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Self Portrait, 2024: Author’s Own

I've been asking women to share their stories for my Around the World with Eighty Women (AW80W) project, so it’s only fair I share one of my own.

I grew up in an ex-mining town in Northern England, the type of town hit hard by Thatcher’s government in the 1980s and one that a well-known TV presenter called a ‘dying town’ during a documentary — much to the annoyance of locals who were very much living and breathing at the time.

The UK class system, largely dictated by social and economic status, was also very much alive and well when I was growing up. It still is in 2024.

High school

I first realised I was working class while in the lunch queue at high school during my second year. Students who qualified for free school meals — due to their family being on a low income and/or claiming benefits — had to join a separate line to receive lunch tokens, with which they could buy food.

I hated that queue, but not because I thought I was better than anyone.

Since leaving high school, the system for claiming free school meals has improved. Many schools provide cards to everyone for purchasing food that either…