The First Wave Of Feminism In The 1920's

During the first World War I women were left at home to try and figure out how they were going to care for their families. Their husband, father, and brothers were sent off to war. Many companies around the United States were left with production needs and little to no employees to do the job. In a time period, where women are expected to be confident and independent, they had to also realize they had little to no power in society. They had societal rules that they must stay at home to cook, clean, and care for the children. With the men who were prominent in their lives coming and going from war. These factors caused the birth of a new era. This is the era where women were emerging. Women were changing by being more independent sexually and expressing their emotions through music, poetry, and movies.

The 1920s was a period of changes exactly as the Progressive Era. Everything was developing very fast. The economic boom caused a high living standard, therefore, people earned more money and wanted to live a modern life, in view of the fact that, they could afford it, especially in the cities which offered more stores, job opportunities, and saloons and bars for entertainment. People wanted to have fun after World War I, take a rest and just hang out together, for that reason it caused a moral decline, the enormous consumption of alcohol caused a lot of crime and women had a new way of living. The two biggest changes were the rights for women and prohibition.

A number of women in the United States and Europe became frustrated with apparent prejudices against women in the 1830s. The women came together by focusing on a specific goals to help their quality of living. It made it hard for women to establish family and marriage laws because women couldn’t divorce and be included in property laws, which men had complete control over women. Rights/laws for women did not make any progress until the late 1800s and early 1900s. Divorce and property rights were at the surface of the women movement. The first right to be granted to women was nursing. Some middle and upper class women were being hears, as they began to gain access to higher education and some occupations mainly filled by men. Amalie Sieveking

The first wave of feminism began somewhere in the 1860’s and lasted to the 1920’s when the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified and women were given the right to vote.

Women began to speak out against the laws that were deliberately set against them. Throughout this time period, women were denied the right to vote in all federal and most state held elections. Women

Women were finally aloowed to enter proffesions such as medicine or law. Women were able to expand their knowledge by attending a college or unive4rsity prior to this law women couldn’t be students. Woman are now allowed to participate in the affairs of the church and that gave them a more positive life with that they were able to gain self confidince and self respect and with time realized that they did not need to always depend on a man. All these laws were gained in 1920 and since then men and women have had equal

Woman’s suffrage started in the 1820’s and lasted until the 1920’s. Woman began making groups and clubs to fight for equal rights. The two main groups were National American Woman’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and National Woman’s Party (NWP). (NAWSA’s membership numbered in millions.) Due to NAWSA and NWP, the 19th amendment enfranchising women, was finally ratified (United

society also witnessed a great change in a woman’s role. During the 1920s women made huge advancements. After the war the 19th amendment was passed giving universal suffrage to women. Before the amendment was passed women worked 29 years and got many states to allow them suffrage, but 14 states was yet to allow it (Doc 2). Therefore the passing of the amendment was a huge achievement to women of the time. Women also worked to change their image in society in order to change how they were viewed, and show their rejection of the victorian age ideals, they began smoking, drinking, wore shorter dresses, and changed their makeup and hairstyles (doc 3). This new women of the time were known as flappers, and were symbols of change in women, they were more liberated and assumed the same political right as

“ In 1919 the women got the right to vote through the ratification of the 19th amendment. Women gained more job opportunities and were now able to run for political office. In 1924 the U.S. elected its first two female governors. In the 1920’s women known as flappers challenged traditional values by wearing short dresses and skirts, smoking in public and drinking in illegal bars known as speakeasies. Many people at the time

The women 's suffrage movement, the time when women fought for their rights, began in the year 1848 and continued on all the way through the 1860s. Although women in the new republic had important roles in the family, the house, and other obligations, they were excluded from most rights. These rights included political and legal rights. Due to their gender, they have been held back because they did not have as much opportunities as the men did. The new republic made alterations in the roles of women by disparaging them in society. During this era, men received a higher status than women. Because women were forced to follow laws without being allowed to state their opinions, they tried to resist laws, fight for their freedom and strive to gain equality with men. This leads to feminism, the belief in political, social, and economic equality between men and women. It is the feminist efforts that have successfully tried to give rights that men had, to women who have been denied those rights. Upon the deprivation of those rights, the Seneca Falls convention and the Declaration of Sentiments helped women gain the privileges and opportunities to accomplish the task of equality that they have been striving for.

Work Book 2002 states “Women’s group have changed many people’s views about male and female roles. These changes have affected the workplace, the family, and the way women live their lives. Through the vote, women’s groups have influenced election results and government.” (Donald 387). After gaining women’s suffrage, the National American Woman Suffrage Association became the League of Women Voters, which educated women voters about current political issues. Although the women’s movement died down after the 19th Amendment, it thrived once again in the 1960’s to combat against what was the considered the traditional house-wife’s role and fight gender discrimination. Two types of women’s, women’s liberation groups and women’s rights group, worked to fight against sexism in society. Women’s liberation groups were small, leaderless, and informal, focusing on self- awareness, equality in marriage, education, and employment. Women’s rights groups, on the other hand, were larger formal organizations compared to women’s liberation groups and sought the creation and enforcement of laws that promoted equal rights. The Women’s Equity Action League, a women’s rights group founded in 1968, discovered an environment where female students were often discouraged from participating in class, labeled the “chilly

The women’s movement began in the nineteenth century when groups of women began to speak out against the feeling of separation, inequality, and limits that seemed to be placed on women because of their sex (Debois 18). By combining two aspects of the past, ante-bellum reform politics and the anti-slavery movement, women were able to gain knowledge of leadership on how to deal with the Women’s Right Movement and with this knowledge led the way to transform women’s social standing (Dubois 23). Similarly, the movement that made the largest impact on American societies of the 1960’s and 1970’s was the Civil Right Movement, which in turn affected the women’s movement (Freeman 513). According to

Late 1906s and early 70s was the next wave in the feminist movement. Taking social views and gender roles head on. The role of women was being redefined within America. After en forcing women to be domestic, the stigma of a woman in the workplace was being pushed. During the 1960s, women were determined to seek equal opportunities, in pay and work within society. Women began to speak out and be respected as they challenged traditions. Finally in the 1980s, the biggest battles were won. Women were accepted into colleges and in the workplace, all of which were reflected in media.

The First Wave of Feminism initially targeted at getting equal rights of property and child however by the end of the nineteenth century, it started focusing on issues like

The main goal of the first wave of feminism was to get women the right to vote. There were a few reason why this was so important to them. The first was that they wanted to be represented because it was a basic right. They were upset that they never got any say in who the president was and what issues were dealt with. Another reason they wanted the vote was to help workers safety. They often worked in sweatshops and needed a way to make sure they would be better protected by the law. They also wanted to help mine safety because so many of their husbands worked in very dangerous conditions there. Ending child labor was important to them as well.