Works Progress Administration (WPA)

 

•One of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs
•Relief program created in 1935
    -Employed 8.5 million people
    -Average salary was $47.57 per month
•Jobs included building bridges, roads, public buildings, public parks, and airports
•WPA was directed by Harry Hopkins
    -“Give a man a dole, and you save his body and destroy his spirit.  Give him a job and you save both body and spirit.”


 •Employed mostly men
    -86.5% men
    -13.5% women
        - Most women were employed to perform traditionally female jobs, which included being bookbinders, seamstresses, nursery school teachers, and other recreational work
•Originally, women were to be paid the same as men, but ended up being paid less
•Ellen Woodward was the director of women’s programs in the WPA
    -Pushed for equal rights or women
•Ended up having no profit
    -Cancelled in 1943