Women In The Great Depression Men

John Steinbeck’s Disposition on Women In the Face of Social Upheaval

In the decade prior to the Great Depression women saw their hopes for equality at its apex with the passage of the 19th amendment, which of course gave them the right to vote. Furthermore, throughout the course of the decade the amount of wage-earning jobs was increasing for women, notably, from 15 percent to 25 percent by 1930 (Benner). Working women carried a newfound sense of individualism, as seen their consumption of popular products like cigarettes and chewing tobacco. These daring, single women became known as “flappers” with their promiscuous skirts, risky makeup, and low cut hair, and came to signify what the 1920’s were all about: rebellion. The “new woman” was well

Many families felt the repercussions directly through lower family incomes, which meant 20 to 30 dollars a week for all their expenses (Ware). In addition, the Great Depression caused a shift in gender roles. Men, who believed themselves to be breadwinners, were embarrassed as they couldn’t take care for their families. It is a known fact that men were inflicted terribly by the great depression, as those employed in steel, rubber, and chemical industries lost their jobs. Women, on the other hand, saw their roles in the home amplified; behind closed doors they fended for the family, especially women who were deserted or divorced. These women scrounged for jobs and were often met with contempt from many who felt they were stealing jobs from men, the true breadwinners, yet despite the animosity, the amount of employed women increased by 2 million (Ware). And in the 1940’s, partly due to WW2, women again saw an increase in these aforementioned numbers and the trend towards female equality

As mentioned before, women were on an upward climb towards economical and social equality. The use of gender ambiguity showed that Steinbeck was conscious of the new current in female prominence. Thus, it stands to reason, that Steinbeck must’ve supported the female crusade towards equality, and apparently he wanted to persuade or at least get people thinking about the implications of female equality. In addition, Steinbeck’s usage of gender ambiguity falls in line with author, Hanna Rosin’s, reasoning on the topic of female adaptability. Remember Ma smoothly adapted to various situations, and similarly Rosin argues, as reported by David Brooks from the New York Times in the article “Why Men Fail,” “Women are like immigrants who have moved to a new country [...] They see a new social context and they flexibly adapt to new circumstances.” Ma clearly espoused these qualities, but Pa on the other hand did not and falls in line with “Men [that] are like immigrants who have physically moved to a new country but who have kept their minds in the old one”