The Great Depression´s Impact on Gender Roles

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Recommended: Gender roles effect on society

Lisa Cianciulli

November 12th, 2013

The Great Depression’s Impact on Gender Roles

Change and hardship go hand in hand, because when hard times emerge society is forced to change. During the Great Depression the idea of gender roles stirred up a great deal of controversy but it also opened the door for change. It gave society a push into a new direction. In order to survive, a number of people had to move away from their traditional way of living in order to take care of their household (Goutour, November 5, 2013). It was now more acceptable and easier for women to find work, while men on the other hand had feelings of emasculation and hostility due to not being able to fulfill their role as the breadwinner (Hollingsworth & Tyyska, 3). This paper will argue that the Great Depression had a major impact on gender roles by examining the shift of dominance within the workforce, the traditional aspects that still remained present within the home and the new meaning that was placed on marriage for both male and females during that time.

The Great Depression caused a great deal of impacts on society but by far the workforce took the hardest hit. Through this economic downturn, there was a drastic shift, the traditional aspects that were once reflected in society were now slowly fading away. Male dominated jobs were decreasing because of the emergence of industrialization. Many workers were now out of a job, because companies could now make more money using machinery and cutting back on workers (Saskatchewan History, 211). The stress of not being able to find work forced men to abandon their families. Many lived the life of a “hobo”, missioning around Canada to find work and having a heavy reliance on refuge camps and soup kitche...

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.... “The Economics of Middle-Income Family Life: Working Women During the Great Depression” The Journal of American History 65.1 (1978): 60-74. Web. 31 October 2013

Boyd, R.L. “Race, Self-Employment, and Labour Absorption” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology 71.3 (2012): 639-661. Web. 31 October 2013

“Documents of Western History: Experience of a Depression Hobo” Saskatchewan History 22 (1969): 209-214. Print.

Goutour, D. “Hard Times & Survival: Part 2”. McMaster University, Hamilton. November 5, 2013. Lecture.

Hollingsworth, L. & Tyyska, V. “The Hidden Producers: Women's Household Production During the Great Depression” Critical Sociology 15.3 (1988): 3-27. Web. 31 October 2013.

Srigley, K. “"In Case You Hadn't Noticed!": Race, Ethnicity, and Women's Wage-Earning in a Depression- Era City” Labour/Le Travail 55 (2005): 69-105. Web. 5 November 2013.

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