She-She-She Camps

The Federal Emergency Relief Association (FERA) Camps, also called She-She-She Camps, were camps established in the United States to aid unemployed women by providing jobs and training. The camps were organized by Eleanor Roosevelt as a woman-focused counterpart to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) programs which catered solely to unemployed men. Roosevelt found that the men-only focus of the CCC program left out young women who were who were willing to work in conservation and forestry and were prepared to spend the six-month program duration living away from family and close support. Therefore, she lobbied for a sister organization to the CCC that would cater to young women. Roosevelt proposed that this program would consist of camps for jobless women and residential worker schools. The FERA camps, referred to as She-She-She camps by certain detractors, were funded by presidential order in 1933. Labor Secretary Frances Perkins championed one such camp after Roosevelt held a White House Conference for Unemployed Women on April 30, 1934, and subsequently Roosevelt's concept of a nationwide jobless women's camp was achieved. While the public largely supported New Deal programs such as the CCC, FERA camps reached a maximum of a little over 5,000 women annually by 1936, and overall served 8,500 as a result of Roosevelt's support. This compares to more than 3 million men who participated in the CCC.