The 1930s was a time filled with change and hardship. After the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the most devastating stock market crash in American history, the vast majority of the decade was crippled by a financial ruin called the Great Depression that had a traumatic impact worldwide, leading to widespread unemployment and poverty. In response, authoritarian regimes emerged in several countries in Europe, specifically the Nazi Party in Germany. Weaker states such as China and Poland were invaded by expansionist world powers, leading to the outbreak of the World War II a few months before the end of the decade. Even so, the 1930s also saw a multitude of new inventions, especially in the fields of intercontinental flight, radio, and film. In literature
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The "new" poor included thousands of formerly middle-and working-class families suddenly impoverished by the loss of jobs, homes, and savings” (The 1930s: Lifestyles and Social Trends). Marriage and birth rates declined, as couples found that they could not afford marriage and children. Many children contracted diseases as a result of malnourishment. Blacks lost their means of support in the 1930s. Inadequately paid and badly treated, thousands of southern laborers were forced off of the land. Always the first to be fired, blacks were especially victimized during the Depression. Unemployed white workers would take jobs that they previously would have deemed unsavory and “employers were far more likely to hire even inexperienced whites rather than experienced blacks” (The 1930s: Lifestyles and Social Trends). Thus, unemployment rates for blacks in the Depression were far higher than the national …show more content…
With Americans being forced to turn “inward and rely on their families for survival, the woman's role at the center of the family gained in significance. Overall, the Depression served to reinforce traditional gender roles” (The 1930s: Lifestyles and Social Trends). Men's lives were more disrupted by the Depression than women's. Judith Baughman explains: As men tried desperately to remain breadwinners for their families, their self-esteem suffered when they lost their jobs. Many men found being asked to do "women's chores" a deeper insult to their already fragile masculinity. In general these role reversals were not desired by either men or women, and most couples tried to maintain traditional, patriarchal gender roles through the dislocations of the Depression.
Yet simple survival required change. “The collapse of the traditional male sphere of business increased the importance of the traditional female sphere of the home” (The 1930s: Lifestyles and Social Trends). Despite intense dissension, the Depression drastically reformed traditional ideas of male entitlement, fiscal conservativism, and social
The "new" poor included thousands of formerly middle-and working-class families suddenly impoverished by the loss of jobs, homes, and savings” (The 1930s: Lifestyles and Social Trends). Marriage and birth rates declined, as couples found that they could not afford marriage and children. Many children contracted diseases as a result of malnourishment. Blacks lost their means of support in the 1930s. Inadequately paid and badly treated, thousands of southern laborers were forced off of the land. Always the first to be fired, blacks were especially victimized during the Depression. Unemployed white workers would take jobs that they previously would have deemed unsavory and “employers were far more likely to hire even inexperienced whites rather than experienced blacks” (The 1930s: Lifestyles and Social Trends). Thus, unemployment rates for blacks in the Depression were far higher than the national …show more content…
With Americans being forced to turn “inward and rely on their families for survival, the woman's role at the center of the family gained in significance. Overall, the Depression served to reinforce traditional gender roles” (The 1930s: Lifestyles and Social Trends). Men's lives were more disrupted by the Depression than women's. Judith Baughman explains: As men tried desperately to remain breadwinners for their families, their self-esteem suffered when they lost their jobs. Many men found being asked to do "women's chores" a deeper insult to their already fragile masculinity. In general these role reversals were not desired by either men or women, and most couples tried to maintain traditional, patriarchal gender roles through the dislocations of the Depression.
Yet simple survival required change. “The collapse of the traditional male sphere of business increased the importance of the traditional female sphere of the home” (The 1930s: Lifestyles and Social Trends). Despite intense dissension, the Depression drastically reformed traditional ideas of male entitlement, fiscal conservativism, and social