The Great Depression: 8 Interesting Things About Life During This Time

Families on government support were less stigmatized

The majority of Americans held disapproving opinions of government charity programs before the Great Depression and shunned receiving assistance. The names of welfare beneficiaries were published in several towns’ local newspapers. After 1933, the government’s involvement in people’s daily lives increased because of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal policies.

As a result of New Deal programs, many Americans obtained some form of financial assistance or employment. Despite the fact that during the Great Depression, attitudes regarding government help started to soften, a lot of families still saw receiving charity as an unpleasant and humiliating experience.

Women entered the workforce

Despite the fact that, in most families, men were the main “breadwinners” during the Great Depression, the number of women that were married in the workforce surprisingly increased. Married women were condemned by some for obtaining jobs when so many men were unemployed, despite the fact that women frequently worked in secretarial or service jobs that weren’t considered socially acceptable for men at the time.

Most women had jobs as nurses, telephone operators, or teachers, and, as you may imagine, they were paid less compared to men. Since money was the main issue during the Great Depression and every penny counted, they continued working as hard as possible.