President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal was a series of projects and programs designed to alleviate the difficulties caused by the Great Depression. It had a great effect on women, due largely to the efforts of the first lady: Eleanor Roosevelt. She untiringly lobbied the heads of federal relief programs and traveled the country to champion the rights not only of women but also of African Americans, the poor, and young people. In November of 1933, she hosted a special White House conference on the emergency needs of women.

Due to his wife's persistence and insistence, during the era of the New Deal, President Roosevelt placed an unprecedented amount of women in important positions in government. For instance, Frances Perkins, as Secretary of Labor, became the first woman in American history to serve in the president's cabinet. Josephine Roche became Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Hilda Smith became Director of Workers' Education in the WPA, and Clara Beyer became Associate Director of the Division of Labor Standards.

Mrs. Roosevelt also pushed for a women's division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and a woman, Eleanor Woodward, was appointed to head it. At its peak in 1936, the women's division of the WPA, a part of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, employed almost 500,000 women. The Fair Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act were New Deal initiatives that guaranteed minimum wages, maximum hours, and the workers' right to organize, and woman workers were also covered by these laws.

In conclusion, we can see that the New Deal, through the efforts of Eleanor Roosevelt, had a profound impact on the rights of women in America and on the appointments of women to important positions in American government.