How did the great depression affect women?

Women were shunted from the workforce as the majority of employers hired white male applicants. So it definitely didn't get better for them, but the disparity between genders was minimized a bit as both males and females suffered. 

On the other hand (and I'm not sure about this), the differences between the rights of men and women generally lessen in times of crisis due to the need of everyone's work to survive (which happened while the men were away during WW2). 
As most of the men were off fighting in the war, women had to take over many of the professions that the men had left behind, leaving the women much more able-bodied and independent by the end of the war. 

But going back to the Great Depression, women also had to deal with the horrible struggle of keeping her family from starving (especially her children). And often times, her husband went around traveling to find work or just plain abandoned her and their children, leaving the woman under even more duress.