Great Depression Effects On Women

Throughput this course we have examined numerous and substantial events in our nation’s history, and how it impacted the lives of women. This essay where examine the effect of two significant events, the depression and WWII, and the effect they had on woman. It will then focus on the lasting, if any, effects these events have had on the role of women in our nation. Finally, it examine whether or not these events radically changed women’s lives, or if women’s lives stayed the same throughout these events. The first event that strongly effect women during this time period was the Great Depression in the 1930’s. What it so interesting about the great depression, is that it had both a negative and positive effect on the women in the country. On the negative side, the depression and the hardships that fell on the country during it, halted a lot of the advances women had made in the 1920’s and saw the country fall back on traditional values. A woman’s place was once again expected to be at her home caring for her husband and children. Laws were even passed, stating that only one member of each family could obtain a federal job, and that married women couldn’t work at all. In class, we learned that 85% …show more content…
Men were stripped away from their homes, jobs, and families and women were left to fill the void. WWII played a large role in the lives of women of all races and classes, giving them traditional male jobs and roles. Women who were traditionally stay at home wives and mothers, now found themselves having to take on the jobs their husbands typically had. Women who wanted to join the war effort worked in factories helping to create much needed weapons. As we read in the article “The War,” by Rosalyn Baxandall and Linda Gordon, these factories jobs allowed women, especially African American women that were capable of such skilled labor. Despite these new roles and opportunities for women, it all quickly went away after the