Women Unemployment during the Great Depression

Introduction 

The Great Depression was a severe economic calamity that adversely affected the United States. It began in 1929 following the stock market crash and ended in 1939. The crash led to the loss of investment fortunes, loss of savings following the collapse of banks, and loss of livelihoods following the failure of industries and closure of businesses. The event adversely affected all economic sectors and geographic regions by 1932. The degree of suffering during this period increased due to the unemployment hardship, loss of farms and homes, and the absence of institutions that could improve the situation. Marginalized populations suffered the greatest. While women during this period cared for their families without adequate employment income or traditional support from their husbands, most government recovery plans mainly benefited men. 

The present paper investigates the experience of women during the Great Depression. The article will focus on unemployment, the impact of the Great Depression on the role of women in the family, and women experience of the crisis based on geographic regions and races. 

Women Unemployment during the Great Depression 

Women had a 4.7 percent unemployment rate while men had 7.1 percent, which demonstrates that the Great Depression affected women less than men based on paid labor force participation (Milkman & Milkman, 1976). The main reason for this difference is that the economic crisis affected less the jobs that women focused on than the jobs men concentrated on during that period. Segregation in the labor market based on sex was high, which compelled women to focus on jobs such as nursemaids, cleaning, or clerical jobs in factories while men focused on manufacturing and heavy industry sectors (Ware, 2009). The labor force segregation based on sex hindered women from being expelled from the labor market and determined the effect of the harsh unemployment that emerged (Milkman & Milkman, 1976). Most women worked in the service, trade, and clerical fields while a majority of men worked in the manufacturing field. 

The service, business, and secretarial field expanded rapidly in the early twentieth century, which allowed many women to enter into the paid labor force (Fellows & Wells, 2013). The entry of women into these fields led to the labeling of the areas as the female labor market (Milkman & Milkman, 1976). These occupations reduced less during the Great Depression than the predominantly male manufacturing fields, which caused women to suffer less than men from unemployment (Fellows & Wells, 2013). Labor force segregation based on sex, thus, protected women from differential unemployment. The situation of women relative to men as the crisis deepened, however, worsened (Milkman & Milkman, 1976). The reason for this is that during the crisis, many women who focused on unpaid housework only had to seek paid work to fill the income gap left by unemployed men (Remy & Remy, 2015). In total, more women participated in the labor force between 1930 and 1940 than any other previous years during the 20th century (Fellows & Wells, 2013). The worsening of the relative position of women in the labor force was due to the high numbers of women competing for available jobs in the female labor market. 

Impact of the Great Depression on Women’s role in the family 

Women played a vital economic role in the family during the crisis. While most women engaged in unpaid household work, this trend reversed during the financial crisis in which the importance of household work increased compared to the earlier period (Milkman & Milkman, 1976). Unemployed people gained support from their families and women had to maintain their families both psychologically and physically. Women, however, experienced difficulties as they performed these roles because of decreased family income and mental pressure due to unemployment. They faced challenges regarding the need to reabsorb extended family members who were independent before the crisis (Milkman & Milkman, 1976). Besides, unemployed husbands spend most of their time within the house while seniors who face employment discrimination also joined their son’s or daughter’s families. In turn, this placed an enormous mental pressure on women as they were forced to maintain large families through both physical and emotional support (Milkman & Milkman, 1976). 

Women, nevertheless, coped with the Great Depression on the family level using different approaches such as by forgetting the traditional family structure (Milkman & Milkman, 1976). Material hardship emerged as the dominant issue that affected families due to low incomes, which forced women to cut costs in different areas (Fellows & Wells, 2013). For instance, families moved to low rent residences, removed telephones, and avoided purchasing everyday goods and services they used to buy earlier (Milkman & Milkman, 1976). During the crisis, products and services such as amusements, magazine subscriptions, automobiles, domestic service, prepared meals, and clothing experienced low sales (Milkman & Milkman, 1976). Women also substituted their labor for products and services they had bought earlier, which reversed the trend toward higher consumption in the previous years (Milkman & Milkman, 1976, Remy & Remy, 2015). Home canning increased substantially during this period and led to high jar sales in 1931 than any other period in the previous decade. Canned product sales, however, declined while home sewing revived (Milkman & Milkman, 1976). Women also sought paid work to deal with low family income in spite of strong cultural sanctions against women working, particularly during the mass unemployment period (McArthur & Smith, 2010). They also revived the domestic industry by focusing on baking, dressmaking, ironing, and laundry for a fee (Remy & Remy, 2015). The Great Depression, thus, strengthened the traditional role of women in the family due to the increased material importance during that period and role reversal between wives and husbands. 

The Experience of Women based on geographical location and race 

Women also experienced the economic crisis differently based on their race and geographic region. Urban homemakers during the 1930s could access running water and electricity while rural homemakers focused on domestic work without the same advantages (McArthur & Smith, 2010). Families that dealt with farming also suffered due to low product prices and foreclosures. Black women viewed the crisis differently from their white counterparts because of being subjected to prejudice and discrimination for an extended period (Ware, 2009). For black women, while they had experienced a hard time, the crisis led to harder times. During the 1930s, 9 out of 10 black women worked in domestic service or farming; the fields hit hard by the disaster (McArthur & Smith, 2010; Ware, 2009). Homemakers began doing their housework instead of hiring servants while in some situations white women competed for jobs they considered previously to be undesirable to black women. Mexican American women also faced similar conditions as black women, even though they also faced the threat of deportation to Mexico due to fears regarding the competition for relief and jobs (Ware, 2009). 

Conclusion 

Women during the Great Depression played the role of homemakers. They faced difficulties maintaining their families due to low family income and unemployed husbands. Despite these challenges, women struggled to work in the paid labor market. The women unemployment rate during this period was low compared to the rate for men since most job losses occurred in the manufacturing and heavy industries; the field liked by most men. Most women focused on the clerical, service and trade sectors that were less affected by the crisis. The Great Depression also strengthened the traditional roles of women in the family as roles between husbands and wives reversed. Urban women also experienced the crisis differently as they had access to utilities such as water and electricity while rural women lacked these utilities. Black and Mexican American women also experienced the Depression differently from the White women due to their previous experience with prejudice and discrimination. Women in general played a vital role in helping their homes and families through the crisis. 

References 

Fellows, N., & Wells, M. (2013).  The Great Depression and the Americas 1929-39 . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

McArthur, J. N., & Smith, H. L. (2010).  Texas Through Women's Eyes: The Twentieth-Century Experience  (Vol. 24). University of Texas Press. Bottom of Form 

Milkman, R., & Milkman, R. (1976). Women's work and economic crisis: some lessons of the Great Depression.  Review of Radical Political Economics ,  8 (1), 71-97. 

Remy, C., & Remy, C. (2015, November 19). Employment of Women in the 1930s. Retrieved May 7, 2019, from https://medium.com/the-thirties/employment-of-women-in-the-1930s- 5998fd255f5 

Ware, S. (2009, Spring).  Women and the Great Depression  [PDF]. https://cpb-us- e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.uoregon.edu/dist/7/11428/files/2017/03/Ware-Women-and-the- Great-Depression-wtw4tk.pdf Top of Form