Explained: Who is a gold digger — the derogatory expression used to describe a certain kind of greedy woman?

At this point, the word still had not gained widespread currency, and was used to primarily connote sex work, sociologist Brian Donovan noted in his book, ‘American Gold Digger’. The term became better known after Avery Hopwood’s hit 1919 play, ‘The Gold Diggers’, which was about three young women struggling to find work in Manhattan. The expression was new to mainstream society, so Broadway producers asked Hopwood to change the title — they were worried people would think the play was about mining or the Gold Rush.

The play was immensely successful, earning $2 million, and set the stage for various other musicals and films about gold-digging women, and established its derogatory, gendered connotation in mainstream society. By the 1930s, gold diggers had become part of a set of stock characters in Depression-era films, Donovan wrote.

A positive representation

In the 1920s, gold diggers were depicted as spoiled, immature “party girls” who, by the end of the play, would often be reformed into happy wives and mothers. In the early 1930s however, gold diggers temporarily shorn of these negative associations, and came to be presented in a favourable light.

An important reason for this change was the Great Depression, that lasted around 1939. In this context, gold diggers were viewed as rags-to-riches figures, who highlighted the immense economic disparities that existed in Depression-era United States. The scholar Clarence Slavens argued that these women characters challenged conventional ideas of gender and class — they battled hardship to make the best of difficult circumstances, and were “morally and socially justified in their attempts to raise their status”.

In often comedic portrayals, gold diggers were represented as almost heroic figures who could use their sexuality for economic advancement by fooling rich men. In the Depression era, the very wealthy were depicted as villains, untrustworthy and out of touch with reality; ordinary people could often relate better to women gold diggers who faced poverty.

In the musical comedy ‘The Gold Diggers’ of 1933, a group of young women are celebrated for their street smarts and their ability to succeed in a difficult world. Three young aspiring actors, in desperate need of employment and basic necessities, are able to outwit arrogant and foolish wealthy men and fund their play.

Gold digger and ‘heart balm’ laws

The positive representation of gold diggers in popular culture did not last long. “Outside the stage and screen…newspapers and litigators portrayed gold diggers less as carefree tricksters and more as a genuine threat to men who were struggling to survive the economic crash,” Donovan wrote.

By the mid 1930s, many US states began eradicating laws that were believed to be abused by gold diggers to swindle money from unsuspecting men. Known as ‘heart balm laws’, these measures allowed a person to sue another for betrayal in a romantic relationship or for breaking off the marriage contract without consultation.

The heart balm law that received the most attention was the ‘breach of promise’ suit, in which a man vows to marry a woman and then reneges on the agreement. It was argued that a woman would not be able to find another suitor if she had been rejected by an earlier one.

Critics of the breach of promise lawsuits portrayed them as a national menace. The narrative was fed by sensationalist news reports about wealthy men who were taken to court by women much below their social rank. There was a growing belief that these laws aided in blackmail, as men would pay large sums of money to avoid their love letters, which contained proof of their relationship, from being read aloud in court.

Donovan also noted that the campaign against these laws was primarily led by upper class women, who felt that the lower class gold diggers were harming the reputation of respectable women of their rank by extending frivolous lawsuits for monetary benefit.

By 1940, 10 US states had passed laws to curb or eliminate heart balm lawsuits, and gold digger as a derogatory term for women had cemented itself in public imagination.