Women In America During Great Depression and World War 2

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and women began to work outside the home in greater numbers simply to keep the family intact. Many employed women lost their jobs, or moved down the employment ladder from a higher paying job such as a secretary to a lower paying job such as a waitress or domestic, because so many jobs disappeared during the Great Depression. One historian states,

Some wives and mothers sought jobs for the first time, and women of every occupational background took domestic jobs. Fewer jobs, increased competition, and downward mobility ensured that young, white, single, attractive, Christian women had the best opportunities for employment, while older, Black women were the most likely to be pushed out of the work force (Hembold).

Thus, the Great Depression helped maintain barriers between race and class. Blacks faced more job woes, while attractive white women had a better chance at jobs, even if they were not the most desirable jobs.
During this time of fiscal crisis, more women turned ...

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wits, and with the support of others around them. This was a time when people banded together, and families banded together, but races still tended to support each other, not stepping outside their ethnicity to support other races and classes.
However, women did make great strides during this time, and some put aside racial and social barriers in common goals. Women became more vocally political, and black and white autoworkers wives organized protests in Flint, Michigan, while Hispanic cannery workers formed unions in California, and southern women textile workers clamored for better working conditions (Hembold). This demonstrates women's innate ability to work together for a ...

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