The Pros And Cons Of Factory Jobs During The Great Depression

Women only worked in their homes caring for their family’s, they never had the opportunity to work outside of their homes in places such as factories or in the government and they had no benefits within the house until the war began. The war

Factories were a big place to find female workers as many men left those jobs, and it was common for women to get hired there. Working in a factory showed people that women could do the same job as the men who used to work there. Weapon factories were popular for women to work in as the men needed weapons to be able to fight in war; they needed a lot of weapons fast without having to pay much to the female workers, as women in

There was also no set wages. They could pay them as little or as much as they wanted to. The Joads had a very similar situation that is complicated by the Great Depression. People took advantage of the fact that they were desperate for work by paying them pocket change.

The opportunity to work typically male dominated jobs in urban areas occurred during the World War Two Era because as men were drafted in order to fight the war overseas, women were needed to work in factories and step away from desk jobs in order to keep the economy running and to produce items needed to fight the war (R). Although there was a significant increase in the number of women who worked in the manufacturing field during World War II, ads that were posted for women were likely not to be for said manufacturing jobs. The need for the economy to remain stable through the duration of the war made it more socially acceptable for women to work in manufacturing, utilities, and transportation. These types of jobs had been previously done by men until the war left Americans with few options. The government and the industries that the women were now able to work in saw the women working there as a temporary solution until the war was over and the men that returned from the war could return and reclaim their jobs.

In particular, the 1930’s was when the depression was affecting almost everyone in the U.S. and many families struggled with this sort of living. In Oklahoma, the Joad family would begin their journey here. The family struggles with their farm, they soon travel across the country to California to find work. In order to travel from state to state they were in need of a truck. Now, most families had experienced this before, not many people had much money during these times. Families were just scraping by and they needed to get to California in order to get a chance to start a new life. They needed a truck to get them there and cheap salesmen weren’t exactly

During the war, many men who went off to war got replaced by women in their workplace. Women now worked as sellers, elevator operator, chauffeurs, street car conductor, railroad worker, and even farm workers. Many women started working as telephone receptionists and telegraph workers, because many jobs believed that women were more apt than men to do that kind of work. The government also had the need for women to get government jobs. Government jobs open at the time were clerks, stenographers, and telegraphers.

The wartime jobs produced lasting careers and life-style changes for women. Some of the jobs they did were telephone operators, factory workers, seamstresses, and physicians. Most of the women that were hired for these jobs were young and unmarried because they had fewer obligations to attend. This meant, they could work long hours with little pay since they did not have a family to provide for. It was

jobs like teaching, civil service. Men worked in manufacturing and dominated the professions. Women did clerical work, or worked on the lower scale in a factory, or worked as domestics in other people?s homes.? (Dr Strom and Wood, pg. 1) More married women were at work in the 1930?s than in the 1920?s but they held the lowest paying jobs.

Black Tuesday set off the Great Depression. Unemployment would rise dramatically and many people would lose their homes and so much more. The President at the time was unable to do much to improve the situation, however, when FDR became President he promised Americans a “New Deal”. The works progress administration that would bring relief to many. This institution still stands today in the form of Social Security income, Unemployment insurance and job search assistance. Jonathan Leonard, journalist, was a reporter on the scene. He writes that restaurants, speakeasies and businesses were open and doing great. They all pretended that everything was ok in hopes that it would all blow over like it never happened and go back

The Great Depression lasted between the years of 1929 and 1939. During this time unemployment rates rose to an all time high and many people such as entrepreneurs, factory workers, and farmers were all put out of business once the economy failed. When farmers were out of work in the eastern parts of the United States, they traveled west because of the good land there. In Lester Hunter’s poem he spoke of this and said “ From the east and west and the north and south like a swarm of bees we came; the migratory workers are worse off than a bum” (Hunter). Once they did this some unforeseen circumstances appeared, this was the beginning of the Dust Bowl. Many farmers traveled west because they thought the land was prime for planting wheat crops.

Before 1920 Most women particularly white women did not work outside the home. They performed traditional domestic responsibilities of conserving food and fuel resources in the early part of the war.

As more men entered the armed forces, women needed to replace them. By the war's end, hundreds of thousands of women had entered the workforce, many of them in traditionally masculine occupations such as engineering, munitions, transport, business, and eventually even the military. The war produced a leap in women's employment from twenty-six percent in the workforce in 1914 to thirty-six percent by 1918. One million women worked in munition industries, forty-thousand served as nurses, and twenty-thousand joined the Women's Land Army as agricultural workers (Marwick, 1977). For the young and the middle-class, work outside their homes was indeed a new experience. On the other hand, working-class women were used to paid work, but the type of work was new. Many left low-skill, low-wage jobs, especially in domestic service, for better paying skilled labor in factories and workshops (Kent, 1993).

With over 6 million men enlisted into the war, their jobs had to be filled, so women stepped up to fill those positions. With roles as nurses, badge sewing, working in factories & shipyards, to selling war bonds, and even spying. Women were also working on airplanes in the Air Force, as mechanics. Women were the driving force of the United States labor and job industry. (The Role of Women in WW1) Prior to the war, women were expected to remain in the home tending to domestic duties such as keeping the house clean, cooking meals for the family and raising children. Women were not allowed to work outside the home, especially in factories, as it was deemed, unladylike to work in such an

An unexpected demand contraction fulfills a function of the initial shove in the depression process which, on the other hand, brings down market demand and increases unemployment.

Women Before, During and After World War One 1. Pre war women did have working opportunities though very little compared to men, as they were seen as weaker and that their place was in the "home". Their employment was limited to the domestic service (cleaning or working as a servant) and secretarial work and not manual labour in factories or working class women often worked in the textiles industry.