Chapter 22, sec.2, Critical Thinking #3

How was what happened to men during the Great Depression different from what happened to women? children? Think About:
• each group’s role in their families
• the changes each group had to make
• what help was available to them

There were many different things happening to men, women and children during the Great Depression. During this time period men were the head of the household and had the largest input on the families money. When men were being layed off men had to go out everyday searching for a job or living in the streets trying to find a way to support his family. If he didn't have a family he traveled alone on train cars hoping to escape his problem and find a job else where, which never really happened because jobs were so scarce. Women were making less money then men were if they had a job and if they did not their main role was to raise the children and keep the house. During the great depression women who were neighbors worked together in order to save money. They managed budgets, sewed clothes, and canned food. Less jobs were available to women during the depression to men, some cities even refused to hire married women as schoolteachers. Children suffered a lot during the depression. Many schools shut down and many children ended up working or traveling freight trains. Those who ended up working were stuck in sweatshops. Also child welfare programs were rid. Children also had lots of diseases because of poor health.