Women in

the 1930s

Had no right just like they should now

 Important
Achievements for
Women

❏ 1930- Amy Johnson flew from

England to Australia, the first flight
of that length made by a woman
❏ 1932- Lilian Wyles is appointed
first female chief inspector on a
police force
❏ 1932- Amelia Earhart made the
first nonstop transcontinental flight
by a woman
❏ 1932- Hattie Wyatt Caraway
became the first woman on the US
senate
❏ 1932- The National Recovery Act
forbids more than one family
member from having a government
job, causing many women to return
to their homes
❏ 1934- Frances Perkins is made
Secretary of Labor, making her the
first woman in the US cabinet
❏ September 1936 to June 1937-
almost 500,000 workers had 400
sit-down protest for women in the
workplace
❏ 1938- Women’s rights decision
found minimum wage legislation
was constitutional
❏ 1938- The Married Women’s
Association is formed by Edith
Summerskill to promote equality in
marriage
❏ 1938- The first women’s army
(ATS) was formed

Important Female
Figures
❏ Florence Kelley- A mentor to
female activists at the start of the
Suffragette movement who was
active until her death in 1932

❏ Frances Perkins- First woman as a

cabinet official, she served until
1945. Frances was a major force
behind unemployment insurance,
minimum wage laws, and social
security.

❏ Molly Dewson- worked toward

better minimum wage and limiting
working hours for women and
children, was later an ambassador
for the New Deal
❏ Grace Abbott- Taught at the
University of Chicago and was a US
delegate to the International Labor
Delegation in 1935 and 1937

❏ Babe Dirkinson- Pitched an inning

in a Major League Baseball game for
the Philadelphia Athletics during a
spring training exhibition game in
1934. She gave up no hits and a walk.

❏ Eleanor Roosevelt- The First Lady

was a strong symbol of the
continuing suffragette movement
and continually stood up for women
in the US
❏ Mary McLeod Bethune- worked
for African-American women’s
rights

❏ Marian Anderson-In 1939 the

Daughters of the American
Revolution (DAR) didn't let Marian
perform in front of an integrated
audience, with the help of F.D.R. and
Eleanor Roosevelt, she was able to
perform on the steps of the lincoln
memorial in front of 75,000 people,
as well as millions listening on the
radio
❏
What it was like being
a women in the 1930s
❏ ¾ of women were school teachers
or nurses
❏ 24.3% of women in the country
were employed
❏ Most women worked for long
hours for low wages
❏ Women’s average annual pay was
$525, compared with $1027 for men
Eleanor Roosevelt

Frances Perkins
Grace Abbott