Volume 7 , Issue 19

1935: The Work Progress Administration (WPA) Established...

"1935: The Work Progress Administration (WPA) was established by New Deal legislation on a semi-permanent basis to take the place of the Civil Works, the CCC, and the ERA. The WPA employed roughly 10% of the labor force and by 1936, a 500 worker sewing project had become one of the first WPA projects to organize its workers as part of the Federal Workers Section. As with other government work relief programs, jobs were assigned according to gender, regardless of the workers skills. The Cass Lake WPA sewing group further segregated its workers by race: one group for white women and a separate group for women of color. Married women who accepted work were seen as a threat to male workers: they took work away from men who "rightfully" deserved it. Under the New Deal, women were only considered in relationship to the family, and the morality of non-family women was subject to scrutiny. Women who received mother's pensions (later known as Aid to Dependent Children) could not work WPA projects; married women were not eligible unless their husbands were deserted or disabled. Organized labor and the Federal Workers Section sought to improve women's situation in the relief system through court battles and demonstrations......" -- READ MORE   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

---