Women's Work and Economic Crisis: Some Lessons of the Great Depression

Abstract

An investigation of the impact of the Great Depression on women's paid and unpaid work roles, and the implications of this for their situation in the current economic crisis. The widely accepted notion that women form a "reserve army" which is integrated into the labor market during periods of expansion and expelled with contractions is criticized. While economic expansion draws women into the labor force, it is argued, the sexual segregation of occupations creates an inflexibility in the labor market which prevents their expulsion during a crisis of contraction. Women's unpaid house hold work, however, is an arena where they can be forced to "take up the slack" in the economy during crises.