American History on the Web: Women and Work in the Depression

Scroll down to the section that discusses the 1930s at http://womenshistory.about.com/cs/1920s1930s/index.htm?terms=1930s. Read about women in the work force during the Great Depression and World War II. Then read the two columns from Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day" at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eleanor/sfeature/md_wi_01.html and http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eleanor/sfeature/md_wi_02.html.

1		Explain how men and women's jobs differed during the Depression. How did they differ during World War II? In what cases were they the same?
2		Compare the wages of men and women during the Depression and World War II.
3		What do the differences in jobs and wages say about socially accepted gender roles in the 1930s and 1940s? How did widespread acceptance of traditional gender roles make aspects of the Great Depression different for men and women?
4		Write a column commenting on these gender differences in the voice of Eleanor Roosevelt.