Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Depression and Gender
On the one hand, the Depression could have empowering effects on women, such as how they could take on more leadership roles in the family and new careers. But, this sense of empowerment was also deemed as a major threat to those who were bearing the brunt of the depression.
So, what, in your mind, made women stand out in this time? Note a handful of the documents from the reading to highlight your discussion.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I feel like the women were the foundation in the family during the times of the Depression. In the Maternalism section, it was the father who was pessimistic and sad saying that it "seems like our life's over an'done.". It was the mother that responded with a smile "No, it ain't." The mother seemed much more optimistic as she put some sense into her husband. The father is the one trying to find work and often coming home discouraged. I believe it was the women who lifted his spirits, giving the family hope that things would get better.
ReplyDeleteIt is also interesting how the "Will Women Lose Their Jobs?" article states that women deserve to be in the workforce because the home that they were once connected to has changed from a "producing home to a consuming home". So the fact that many are blaming women for "taking jobs" is ridiculous because them entering the workforce is just natural in these shifting times.
Women were forced to work like men and join the labor field that women were typically not apart of before. Instead of being subjected to staying at home, cleaning, and raising the kids, women were relied on to make money to support the family like men did. I think the great depression in a sense was a good thing for women. It totally changed the culture for women and work.
ReplyDeleteI thin for the women, the depression was almost a fortune regarding jobs. O think that men were much more likely to loose their self esteem and give up, or, wouldn't want to take a bad payed job far below their education. Women, that had barely brought money into the families before, would be willing to do what had to be done.the text mentions that they often took jobs no man would have wanted. As they were bringing money home, they had much more say in family decisions, so the depression is an important part of emancipation
ReplyDeleteIn Gellhorn's letter to Hopkins she talked about a woman who used to work with her husband, but once he got a steady job stopped. I think that was the case with many people in the Depression, both the husband and the wife would work until he go a steady job and then traditional gender roles were restored. I think that this really helped set the tone for women in the workforce in WWII which led to the more improvements in later decades. The Depression was a starting block for women in the workplace.
ReplyDeleteThe Great Depression called for a big change in everyone's life. Women in particular because they were both finally rewarded with paying jobs and resented for this improvement. It changed the finally dynamic and women were both more "womanly" to appease their depressed husbands and less so in order to feed their families. such as in the letter to Hopkins, which brings up the interesting issue of birth control. The women was performing her "duties as a wife" by being her husbands sexual object (essentially) but also trying not to conform to the basic assumption that wives are meant to be mothers and that this is their only purpose. It was sort of like one's femininity must maintain a balance in order to suit a family. one must not be too motherly/wife-like or they will drive themselves crazy, and then also not take on too many roles belonging to men or it will drive others a bit crazy. These issues were brought up within the article and in the process of the struggle of the revolutionizing identity of women.
ReplyDeleteWomen were forced to work, yet many were employed fields that were exclusively female. These were jobs that were in a way a natural extension of the role they played at home, such as housekeepers and receptionists. Times were changing and this reflected in the average American family. There were on average around 3 kids or less per household and with the invention of new technologies the housewife saw her responsibilities shrink, which bred idleness. Women were already starting to transition to the workplace, but with the unemployment of their husbands these once supplementary paychecks were becoming the principal source of income. So it is the environment that fueled change rather than women themselves.
ReplyDeleteThis caused a change in the lives of many women because they were forced to work. There weren't many jobs and everyone had to do their part to bring in income for the family. It is kind of like WWII, when the women worked in factories when the men went away to fight. They proved that they could work in the same conditions as men, and they had always been able to.
ReplyDeleteThere was a sense that women were more that the child bearers, but that they were very capable to earn a living and have a career. The Great Depression proved this because they had to work where the men worked.
The great depression showed the U.S that women can do the work of men just as well as men could. I believe that the great depression was a great stepping stone in women's rights because of that exact point. The whole mindset of that time was that the man was the bread winner and the wife was to stay at home, cook, clean, and raise the children. But with the men not being able to get enough money for the bread, the women had to step up and show that they two are able to do work just like the men.
ReplyDeleteIn my mind, the change from traditional housewives to working women stood out during this time. Although women worked, they were essential to the family, like a backbone. For the men, this may have made them feel less powerful or intimidated by their own wives. As Nicki said, women also had the job of lifting the spirits of the household. I think this article points out how society shaped the role of women.
ReplyDeleteOn top of bearing children and doing housework, women now were the main suppliers of income for their family, along with their children in many instances. They did, however, not lose their "traditional" role of cleaning and maintaining the home, but they began acquiring significantly more jobs than men. However, despite the fact that the men of the house were depressed and frustrated about their unemployment, men did not want most of the jobs women held anyway. The article states that the reason women lost fewer jobs than men was because, "women had traditionally been excluded from the types of jobs, such as those in the heavy industry, that were hardest hit by the depression." Hence, the traditional roles of women was much less threatened by the depression than the men's role of "male-as-provider".
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mitch, the great depression helped to prove that women were just as capable as men in most every job, and erased an age old cultural ambiguity of limiting women to the boundaries of their own homes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mitch when he says that this gave way to a great opportunity for women to prove themselves. This really showed the capability that women had to get the job done and get it right, just like any other man. This time period was a major stepping stone for women that practically erased the though of women as useless.
ReplyDeleteThe Great Depression was the period that laid the foundation for the modern role of women in society. This time period allowed women to finally enter the workforce, and show their equality to men. Also, women stood out because they were more willing to accept lowly jobs, to provide for their families, now that many of the males had lost their prestigious jobs, and were unwilling to take an entry - level job. The women were used to household duties, so naturally, the first wave of jobs available for women were parallel to what they had been used to.
ReplyDeleteDuring the great depression era,a good amount of men lost their jobs and women started to step in the workforce with the consideration of living, family and kids. It might be a good shift towards women's social status as traditional housewife or suject to their husbands.Also the fact that women were treated as a "useless member: of the society and without well education started to grab the public's attention.
ReplyDeleteDuring the Great Depression women became an integral part of society because of all the men going away during the war. When they got deployed they left an employment vacuum that was filled by all the women left behind. Because of this they became more valued members of society who were able to show their worth. This was probably one of the most important moments for females to finally be integrated and be closer to the societal standing of men
ReplyDeleteAs the Great Depression ravaged everything in its path, the relationship between children and their parents changed. As these relationships began to shift, others did as well; such as the relationship between men and women. During the Great Depression, it became hard for men to hold their jobs. Now, children were pitching in and so were women. Men, “were traditionally seen as providers, were frequently left with feelings of...inadequacy...women [began] [to] take on different, more prominent roles within the family.” Women began to stand out in this time because they became the providers for their family, a position usually reserve for the men.
ReplyDeleteAfter I read the text I learned that the economy was struggling heavily during this specific part of the depression. I also thought that the whole mindset of this time was that the man were the bread winner and the wife was to stay at home, cook, clean, and raise the children. But with the men not being able to get enough money for the bread, the women had to step up and show that they two are able to do work just like the men. Woman had know choice but to step up and help make money for there family.
ReplyDeleteThe women had to stand out. This is because as the depression rolled on, and husbands were out of work, their wives had to step up. And because women did not have all the rights men did, I'm sure there was a sense that they had to step up and show what they were made of. In the reading, it said they also did it to make their husband feel better. The women needed to help the household stay together by working or else it would fall a part because the typical providers were not producing enough. So women needed to help the family get anything they could.
ReplyDeleteI think that women steeped up during the Great Depression because they saw the opportunity and went with it. Since their husbands were out trying to find whatever they can for a job or being shipped off to war they stood up and took a stab at breaking the boundaries of their "class". Because they were seen as the inferior gender, it was hard for them to break the seal, but they did and this started the beginning of woman's rights movements.
ReplyDeleteI think that women stepped up and stood out during the Great Depression because they wanted to prove that they could do the work that men do also. They were now deemed as a source of income instead of just a mother figure, while also doing chorework and caring for their children. Ultimately women were forced to work and be the source of income for the house
ReplyDeleteOverall, women did stand out during the depression because mostly they were now being seen as being needed to help the economy (working class), and women were trying to fight to have more of a say in the right to vote because women in Argentina didn’t get the right to vote until 1912. Also women had to hold their families together during the time of the depression and make sure that everyone was ok because women as well as the men had to provide for their families. However one thing that I did not agree with in the reading last night was in the reading “Will Women Lose Their Jobs?” that reading made it sound like the men are mad that the women are taking their jobs away from them, almost blaming them for trying to do something good for themselves and society.
ReplyDeleteWomen stood out during the depression because this was really the first time that women were widely employed and able to help give money to support their family. (hopefully we can bring up the US as well as Argentina ..but) in the US the government set up many job opportunities for people, especially men, and some of which involved working in the military. This left many women being the only person left to support the family from home. One issue that left women in charge form the reading was "maternalism" , the traditional female role was scewed into something that it had no yet been before, and this put women in a better/more pwoerful position then they recently had been in.
ReplyDeleteBefore the great depression women always stayed at home with the kids or they would cook and clean. That was the basic stereotype of women before the depression. I think the depression changed this because after the depression women started to get jobs and were more involved in a lot of stuff. They were treated more like men were. They werent considered equal yet, and they still aren't today. But they had to get jobs to help support their family even though they weren't getting paid nearly as much as the men were. And that is also still true today: women don't get paid as much as men do.
ReplyDeleteThe role of women during the Depression took a 180 degree turn, although they still had limitations. Before the Depression women were just to stay and home and cook and clean, they were in the background of everything. They basically served to please men however once the Depression came that HAD to change. Men were getting laid off left and right because of the loss of jobs therefore, women had to start working in order to help support the family. For once, they would help support the family however, they still held the traditional jobs of cooking and cleaning. Not to mention, people were still skeptical of hiring women because they though that the man would still have a job and that they were just there to make extra. If this was the case in their mind then they would try to hire a male instead who was probably the only source of income. In the Grapes of Wrath it shows that women were also the calmed and controlled ones. They were maternal like when the boy was starving and the girl who had just given birth to the sterile child let him have some of her breast milk. This idea of materialism also followed women. However, even though some things changed others didn't, for example women still had to help make their men fell better about themselves. Like in the story in the beginning where a women was talking about how her husband was laid off and was therefore very depressed. They only way to keep him happy was basically to have sex with him but then their would be children since they didn't have an access to contraception. Because they had more children, they would have to one not work and two need more money but when they are on government aid they were only allowed food. Some women would therefor have to degrade themselves and try to sell food to get something their child needed. This shows that although the Depression changed the roles of women, it did not change too much.
ReplyDeletewomen were the foundation in the family during the times of the Depression. they ran the household were everyone lives and looks for saftey and love. mothers provided that love. Mothers seemed much more optimistic. women lifted the husbands spirits giving the family hope that things would get better. they were the optimistic and emotional backbone of the household as a male when your family struggles you blame it on yourself and can become depressed the women alleviate that sadness to some degree.
ReplyDeleteA family cannot survive without incomes. Usually, men are out and working to feed their families; women are staying at home and taking care of chores and children. The depression reverses the situation. Many men lose their jobs, particularly in heavy industries. Therefore, women starts to look for jobs. Nevertheless, they still have to take care their children and husbands, which makes life even harder for them. The depression does not only strike people financially, but also mentally. It gives women more pressure on feeding the family; it hampers mens' spirit. Men who become unemployed clamor that women take their jobs, and women should return jobs to men. This seems logical statement cannot afford a second thought. Norman Cousins point out the absurdity this argument is. There are 10000000 unemployed men. 10000000 women hold jobs, which are mainly domestic jobs. However, only 300000 jobs can make men satisfied, which means that only 3 per cent of the positions would be available for men. Overall, everyone is having a hard time during the depression. Both women and men suffer economically and psychologically. Under the depression, people's minds do go crazy and start to come up with fallacy to try to solve problems.
ReplyDeleteThe American male's insistence on fearing the empowerment of females around the time of the Great Depression is completely irrational. The argument was that women were taking men's jobs and that married women should not be working because they were already being taken care of by their husbands. However this could not be further from the truth. The fact is that women held different jobs than men, many had positions as secretaries, clerks, etc or would have domestic jobs. So it was not women taking jobs from men but the infirmities of the economy. Also, married women were not necessarily being supported financially by their husbands, considering the astronomically high unemployment rates it was probably often the other way around. Another counterargument is that jobs are rewarded upon ability and not need. So if the female workforce was replaced by males, the employers would suffer as well.
ReplyDeleteThe American male's insistence on fearing the empowerment of females around the time of the Great Depression is completely irrational. The argument was that women were taking men's jobs and that married women should not be working because they were already being taken care of by their husbands. However this could not be further from the truth. The fact is that women held different jobs than men, many had positions as secretaries, clerks, etc or would have domestic jobs. So it was not women taking jobs from men but the infirmities of the economy. Also, married women were not necessarily being supported financially by their husbands, considering the astronomically high unemployment rates it was probably often the other way around. Another counterargument is that jobs are rewarded upon ability and not need. So if the female workforce was replaced by males, the employers would suffer as well.
ReplyDeleteThe Great Depression called for a great change in American society. People had to make huge adjustments to their everyday lives. America was a place in which the men would go out and work, while women would stay home and take care of the house and the family. At the start of the Depression, people actually thought that procedure would still work, but it didn’t. When these started getting layed off, coming home all depressed and demoralized, women had to start working, they had to start fending for their families. Not that they weren’t doing so already, but now they had to contribute in a different way. So while the men were all pessimistic and were saying shit like “seems like our life's over an'done”, the woman had to be leaders. They had to show they could perform certain jobs as well as and even better than the men could. And in many family, women would be the main suppliers of income.
ReplyDeleteIf say the depression empowered women's position in gender role, It is a complete change. Because men are no longer the employers. They are not the breadwinner anymore. The women in the household usually do housework but they are out of money. Kids can't survive with out food. Women started going out to look for jobs which they wouldn't have before. Coincidently, there are jobs that fits women better than men and men wouldn't do so women started to make money. Then after you are making money, you got the say in the family.
ReplyDeleteDuring the depression, women were having more and more place in the society; in the sense that, in the past women were just in the house, working and cleaning in the house and paying attention for the kids and educating them. However with the Depression, it helped for women that wanted to work because some men just gave up in some works that were "too low paid" for them and their education. Women started then taking the jobs that were available because men did not want to have a bad reputation by having a modest job.
ReplyDeleteTherefore the Depression helped woman to have more power in society since they could bring finally money to the house. However the conditions of work were still very miserable and even though they were rewarded for their work in terms of income, it was still such a small amount of money.
The depression opened up alot for women. Giving them a lot more freedom. Women wanted to help during this time also. No longer to just sit home and do nothing. Men gave up at times and women stepped up and helped out. It gave women a lot more power and gave them opportunities to show that they can do something and help there families. because back then no one thought women can help support there families and all they could do is cook and clean in there homes when they could do so much more to help.
ReplyDelete