Feminine Hardships During The Great Depression

Feminine Hardships During the Great Depression

The Great Depression, one of America’s worst hardships, was a time of economic and emotional strife for all social classes in America. It started in the United States after the dramatic crash of the stock market. The Depression left its mark on America making it stronger than ever before, lasting from 1929 to 1939. Everyone suffered throughout the harsh decade, especially minorities like women. Contrary to popular belief, women and children were not put first in terms of society’s priorities. Female Americans struggled to obtain work and provide for their children. Taken together, these women’s stories explore how difficult it was to survive in a suffering country through their struggles such as abandonment, unemployment, and discrimination.

They were forced to rely on them during the pre-Depression era. This caused women to suffer more once they had to live without providers. The men would travel to find jobs but eventually, they drifted off and left the women to care for themselves, and sometimes even their numerous children. Instead of sticking by their wives, daughters, and mothers, men would neglect them. As Meridel Le Sueur, a female American author who wrote Women on the Breadlines, puts it, “Hard times and the man leaves to hunt for work. He doesn’t find it. He drifts on . . . She isn’t surprised. She struggles alone to feed the many mouths,”(Sueur). This abandonment left the women feeling humiliated and pressured to find employment to avoid