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Unemployed Single Women Demonstrate for Jobs

As millions of men lost their jobs during the Great Depression, many began to argue that women (particularly married women) should not be occupying the scarce jobs that remained. When women could find jobs, employers routinely paid them less than men, even for the same work. Women were also more likely to be employed irregularly, which further diminished their wages. This newspaper photo depicts a 1933 protest march organized by the Association of Unemployed Single Women. Organized by the Socialist Party in New York City in 1933, the Association advocated for jobs, housing, and relief for the city's nearly 175,000 single unemployed women. In the winter of 1933-1934, the city reversed its policy and began to offer aid to single women.

Source | New York-World Telegram staff photo, in Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division; see also Encyclopedia of the Great Depression Vol. 2, ed. Robert S. McElvaine (New York: Macmillan Reference, 2004), 1001.
Creator | New York World Telegram 
Item Type | Photograph
Cite This document | New York World Telegram, “Unemployed Single Women Demonstrate for Jobs,” SHEC: Resources for Teachers, accessed April 20, 2024, https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1081.

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