Which statement about women in the New Deal era is true?

• A. Some state governments avoided welfare payments to women by introducing special qualifications.
• B. Women achieved prominent positions in the New Deal such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Frances Perkins.
• C. Some National Industrial Recovery Act codes required women to pay less than men.
• D. Only 8,000 women were employed by the CCC out of 2.75 million.

Answer: (B)

During the New Deal era, women began to appear in high-profile public roles and to influence national policy, reflecting a real shift in how women could participate in government and reform. Frances Perkins becoming Secretary of Labor in 1933 made her the first woman to hold a U.S. cabinet post, putting labor issues and workers’ protections at the highest level of policy-making. Eleanor Roosevelt used her platform as First Lady to press for social reform, champion civil rights, women’s issues, and relief programs, and she remained an influential voice in shaping New Deal priorities. These examples show that, even within a era still marked by gender inequality, women could attain significant leadership and visibility, which is why this statement is true.

The other options don’t capture this broad pattern as clearly. Welfare policies at the state level varied and didn’t define the era as a whole by systematically withholding payments through special qualifications. The National Industrial Recovery Act did not establish a universal rule that women must be paid less than men; wage policy under the New Deal was complex and often uneven, not a straightforward “lower pay for women” mandate. And the Civilian Conservation Corps mostly excluded women or included only a tiny, limited number, so the figure described doesn’t reflect the overall reality.