Two areas in which the impact of economic crises on women's employment in the Great Depression of 1930 and during the 1970's and 1980's appear to be similar are examined: (1) the actual changes in female employment; and (2) the ideological campaigns and policies generated and/or reinforced, especially by the federal government, blaming women for male unemployment. In both periods of economic crisis, women's employment increased. The numerical increase, however, does not carry with it a commensurate increase in status, pay, and power for women. Women are pushed farther down the occupational hierarchy. During both periods hostility is expressed against women for taking jobs away from men; however, this hostility is expressed in different ways. During the Great Depression, propaganda campaigns and government intervention pressured women to leave the labor force altogether. In the 1970's and 1980's the message was one of putting women back in their place--a subordinate position to men, whether in the labor force or at home. The current hostile forces against women's employment blames women for upheavals in the family and in the labor market. (RM)