disadvantages of women (in the job industry)
Women were seen as inferior to men, whether it was the right to vote or the right to hold office; men had priority. In Woman’s Place After the War, Eleanor Roosevelt asked Mary Anderson of the Bureau of Women in Industry, “Will women want to keep their jobs after the war is over?” Anderson replied that it depends on whether the economy needs women or not. Roosevelt stated that a growing number of young women are obtaining jobs while they complete school or college, but she suggested that women do not need jobs since the primary job of the average women was to “marry and have a home and children.” She stated the following:
There will always be exceptions, of course, as when a woman must taken on the burden of work outside the home to
supplement what the man earns, or, if the man cannot work, even must assume the place of the head of the family
and earn a living for the household.
She believed that people in general should have the opportunity to work, whether it is full-time or part-time because having the “chance to work on something […] gives them creative satisfaction.” (10)
There will always be exceptions, of course, as when a woman must taken on the burden of work outside the home to
supplement what the man earns, or, if the man cannot work, even must assume the place of the head of the family
and earn a living for the household.
She believed that people in general should have the opportunity to work, whether it is full-time or part-time because having the “chance to work on something […] gives them creative satisfaction.” (10)
In
opposition, many Americans believed that “women were taking jobs that would
otherwise go to men” during the widespread unemployment in the 1930s.
Soon, the opportunity for women to work had changed because of this
epidemic. As a result, many states did not allow women to work if their husbands
earned a “living wage.” According to Voices of Freedom: A
Documentary History, Robert S. McElvaine declared that the federal
government refused “both members of a married couple from holding government
jobs.” (11) In fact, women in the 1930s “entered the workforce at a rate twice
that of men.” Though the disadvantage
was that employers were inclined to employ them at “reduced wages.” (12) Also mentioned in Voices of Freedom: A Documentary History, an idea was stated by supporters of the “depression cure-all” regarding the “assault” on women’s rights that went on for twenty years. The belief was that there were ten million people who were jobless and 10 million or more women were job-holders so some supporters of the “depression cure-all” suggested to “simply fire the women, who shouldn’t be working anyway, and hire the men. Presto! No unemployment. No relief rolls. No depression.” (11) It is not the women’s fault for the depression or anything that is going on in the economy, and by replacing women with men in the job field will not be the solution to the predicament. As stated by Robert S. McElvaine,
Fundamentally, the unemployment of men is not caused by women who hold jobs but by the infirmities of the
economic structure itself. Nor is the depression an affliction visited exclusively upon the male; the women must bear
her part of the burden, as more than 2,000,000 unemployed women can attest….
(10) Roosevelt, Eleanor. “Woman’s Place After the War,” Selected Writings of Eleanor Roosevelt. Accessed March 26, 2013.
http://newdeal.feri.org/er/er15.htm.
(11) Foner, Eric. “Norman Cousins, ‘Will Women Lose Their Jobs?’ (1939).” In Voices of Freedom: A Documentary History,
177-178. New York: Norton 2011.
(12) "Working Women in the 1930s." American Decades. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. Accessed May 8,2013.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3468301237.html.
Fundamentally, the unemployment of men is not caused by women who hold jobs but by the infirmities of the
economic structure itself. Nor is the depression an affliction visited exclusively upon the male; the women must bear
her part of the burden, as more than 2,000,000 unemployed women can attest….
(10) Roosevelt, Eleanor. “Woman’s Place After the War,” Selected Writings of Eleanor Roosevelt. Accessed March 26, 2013.
http://newdeal.feri.org/er/er15.htm.
(11) Foner, Eric. “Norman Cousins, ‘Will Women Lose Their Jobs?’ (1939).” In Voices of Freedom: A Documentary History,
177-178. New York: Norton 2011.
(12) "Working Women in the 1930s." American Decades. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. Accessed May 8,2013.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3468301237.html.