Keeping Women in Their Place: the Great Depression, the Legitmization of Women's Organizations and "the Women's Charter"

by

Kim Babon

Primary advisor: Judith Smith

Secondary advisor: Jean Humez

Abstract:

This paper seeks to analyze the ways in which women's organizations such as the National Women's Party, presented and legitimated their goals during the Great Depression. In the United States during the 1930s, legislation was passed which forced women to quit their positions in civil service; abroad, female roles were dramatically altered by fascist regimes. The status of women's organizations was tenuous, as they had fractured into special interest groups during the post-suffrage years. Economic misfortune during the Depression focused national energies away from the type of special interest politics women's organizations represented. This paper asks how economic conditions affect organizational strageties, the perception of women's roles, and the organizations created to advance their interests. Often, the history of women's organizations is analyzed as a series of leaders, successes, or failures in attaining goals. There has been little effort to analyze how such gaols are constructed and legitmated. The focus of my work is the analysis of the discourse generated during the debate over the drafting and approval of "The Women's Charter" (1936), an alternative to the Equal Rights Amendment, which sought to define women's status and rights. Using primary source documents, such as letters written between members of the women's organizations during the controversy, and secondary sources, such as newspaper and magazine commentary on "The Women's Charter," we gain insight into how perspectives about women's roles may change, especially during economically stressful times. We also learn that economic conditions altered what was perceived to be the appropriate role of women's organizations. Not only were women's roles contested, but the roles of their organizaitons were also debated. I demonstrate how women's organizations constructed and legitimated their positions, then compare changes in the way women's organizations presented their goals over time from the 1920s to 1930s.

Who might be interested in reading this work?

Individuals who are interested in women's history, women's rights, women's organizations, general organizational history/strategies, the American Depression and the 1930s might be interested in reading this work.