3.1 The New Deal: Women And The Economy Flashcards
The New Deal and Unemployment
aimed for relief, recovery and reform
but no year after 1933 did unemployment fall below 14% (9.5 million)
some new deal measures did more harm then good (national recovery administration & buying gold administration): concentrated on domestic solution to the economic problem= prolonged global depression (reduced Exports) & offered “Boondoggle” jobs by PWA
The personal income of the USA: $72.9 billion in 1939 compared to $85.8 billion in 1929 (even though the population grew 9 million)
1939: 1/5 Americans received some form of government relief
USA was most effected major industrial economy
made worse by roosevelt recession:
rate of economic decline was sharper than in 1929
- real gross domestic product fell 10%
Industrial production fell 33%
4 million people lost their jobs
Unemployment surged to 20%
GNP fell 12%
= The New Deal was a failure in boosting economic growth BUT did prevent economic collapse and laid the foundations for rapid economic growth in the second world war
the new deal and national infrastructure
Alphabet Agencies
eg: Works Progress Administration built 2500 hospitals, 5900 schools, 350 airports, 570000 miles of road and 8000 parks)
Eg: Civilian Conservation Corps helped in development of US National Parks and State Parks, roads , tree planting
Eg: Tennessee Valley Authority helped transform an area severely effected by soil erosion and economic under-development - building locks and dams + created hydro electric power for domestic and industrial use
Eg: Rural Electrification Administration , created by FDR, persuaded private power companies to extend power lines into farm areas by offering low interest loans or the power companies = transforming rural areas (1941: 40% of farmers had electricity and 90% in 1950
women and the new deal + Eleanor Roosevelt
The New Deal opened up more job opportunities
1930: 10.7 million women worked
1940: 12.5 million women worked
CCC, alphabet agencies, She She She camps
federal employment offered opportunities that did not exist before 1933 for women - women took important posts or were promoted to leadership roles in promoted national recovery, administrating relief programs , managing give operations and addressing the interests and needs of women
“opportunities given women by Roosevelt changed our status” - Molly Dewson democratic party member
Advised her husband on aspects of federal police and championed the position of women and ethnic minorities
During New Deal years she held 348 conferences, explaining to the press what ought to be done - highlighting the plight to young people faced with extreme poverty and lack of opportunity
letter writing (300,000 letters)
Had a newspaper article “My Day” explaining what she did day by say
Travelled 300,00 miles across the USA asking questions and supporting New deal policies; visiting coal mines, sharecroppers and slum dwellers
Encouraged her husband to appoint women wherever possible in the government (Eleanor campaigned for the She She She camps ;
Support for the US youth; creation of the National Youth Administration to provide work and educational opportunities for young people
(Defended acts from attack in congress and accusations for wasting federal money)
strongest advocate for Civil Rights for black Americans - supported appointment of Mary Bethune and met with the head of(NAACP)
KKK had a 25 thousand dollar bounty for Eleanor. She assisted in getting an anti-lynching bill to congress but it was struck down .
women and the new deal; Mary Bethune + Frances Perkins
Mary Bethune: Black American advisor and activist
Become the advisor on minority affairs
1935: founded her own civil rights organisation ( National Council of Negro Women )
1936: became the chairperson of an informal ‘black cabinet’ - help plan priories for the back American community
1936: appointment as the Director of the Negro Affairs division of the National Youth Administration (NYA) - provided skill training to 500,000 young black Americans
Constantly demanded that black American youth should receive federal aid in numbers that reflected their proportion of the national population ( limited success)
Campaigned for the rights of black Americans to get the same pay as whites in the federal government
Frances Perkins, first woman cabinet member
1933: became the first woman cabinet member - secretary of Labour
Pivotal role in establishing the civilian conservation corps
Crafted the Social Security Act - for the first time gave direct federal aid to the aged and unemployed through insurance = direct welfare
Helped pass a federal minimum wage for workers in the Fair Labor Standards Act
Limitations of the New Deal and aiding women
Gender roles of the time & the new deal emphasis on public works projects when construction was defined as a masculine occupation - the employment of women in work relief programs rarely equalled the employment o f men
Women: 13-18% of total WPA employment & no women in the CCC
BUT the types of projects that women performed in the work relief programs were just as varied and productive as projects run by men. Sewing projects was largest employer - making half a billion goods. Responsible for WPA’s school lunch programmes- over a billion nutritious meals.
Women who were not hired into work relief programs found assistance in the new deal programs eg: food and goods distributed by the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation and the Food Stamp Program.
*were more affected by the Great Depression than white people but New Deal helped them less.
FDR needed the support of the racist southern democrats for the New Deal to work.
Many programs were handled at the local level so African Americans were excluded
1936 Social Security Act was meant to help single mothers but married women were able to find a way to benefit from it BUT African Americans women, single or married were decided because the bill excluded domestic labourers and sharecroppers - both jobs primarily African american
1935 Wagner act established trade unions but also excluded sharecroppers and tenant farmers.
