Women in the 1920s

The 1920s was a major turning point in American history. Known as “the roaring twenties”, the citizens of the United States enjoyed the new found wealth from the economic turnaround. The United States’ wealth more than doubled as the nation turned into a consumer society. Not all Americans were fond of the changes in society, and not all of the changes were good.

The 1920’s which was also called the Roaring Twenties was a era of economic prosperity and dramatic social change. The 19 amendment that was ratified on August 1920 gave the right of women to vote and the impact of World War I resulted in women questioning traditional morals and values, becoming rebellious. When men left for the war it caused women to have new jobs such as working in factories. Also, “the number of women attending college rose to 10% of the population by the end of the 1920's." Due to women having the opportunity to have jobs and go to college women became more mobile. The corset limited women to be mobile in this era which caused the production of coresets to quickly decline. Less women wearing corset made their figure to be more boyish and straight. The women of this era was called the Flappers, free spirited women, representing the new change of how women looked. The Flappers “lacked hips, breasts, and a defined waist”. They would dress in dresses above their knee and ankle showing more legs and having bare arms. They would also stray away from having long hair and cut their hair into a bob to symbolize freedom and independency. As a reason of women questioning traditional values they began to drink, smoke and be more sexual in this era. The 1920’s was also the age of Jazz which influenced women to go out and dance and women having more flamboyant and exuberant moves. In the 1920’s to be equal among men they had to have a figure of men,

though women got kicked out of their jobs, doing the jobs they were doing while men

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.

Let’s take a look at the women’s of the 1920’s, the changes that took place in fashion and the roles of women in society. Women’s fashion will be compared from early days up until the 1930’s, with a brief comparison of the roles of women before and after the 1920’s. A discussion of the different avenues that opened up for women after 1920 and the impact that it has had on modern day women will also be covered within this paper. you need a stronger introduction

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.

The 1920s was a decade of great social change and political conflicts. The roles of women have changed profoundly since the 1920s. During the time of World War 1, many women took the place of the males in factories, hospitals, and any other place men worked. When men returned from the war, women felt they should be entitled to the same rights as men, such as voting. This caused a great debate but in August of 1920, this all changed; the 19th amendment was added to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote. Women felt they were almost as superior as men once they were able to vote. As a result, women felt they could do as they pleased. This is where the term

The 1920’s was an era of dramatic political and cultural change, where many Americans lived in cities rather than farms. Many inventors came to be noticed as new cars were invented and as music entered the entertainment industry. A new style of music was invented mainly in the African American community, creating the Harlem Renaissance; which was an evolution of music and entertainment in Harlem, New York City. The women of America began to evolve in the 1920s, adding new styles to our fashion industry and changing the way women dress, act, and are portrayed in society for generations. Women were viewed before the 1920’s as innocent housewives, that made little to no money, as they often relied on their husbands’ for income. Women also had little to no rights, such as voting rights, which many women began to protest. Women of the 1920’s through the 1930’s influenced and impacted society by transforming their looks from innocent housewives to a sexually liberated generation of women, increasing the working rate to twenty-five percent by working in factories and the telemarketing business, and participating in the Women’s Suffrage Movement in which they protested for their rights which then influenced the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.

The 1920s also brought American women increased personal and sexual freedoms. As the United States steadily urbanized—for the first time more than half of all Americans lived in cities—women could escape the yoke of parental control or repressive marriage by moving into

The 1920s had a big impact on American life all around; however, one of the biggest changes during this time period was in the roles of women. During this time period, women started dressing different, leaving the house, getting jobs, and gaining rights. On top of all of that, they had a bigger role in education, they began taking parts in politics, and divorce became more of a common thing. This may not seem like a big deal to people today, but this was very important at the time. Prior, women had next to no rights. They lived to wait on and please their husbands. Women rarely even left the house. This time period could be said to have paved the way for modern day feminism and women’s roles. This was the time period when they began to be free and stop worrying about how society thought they should live. However, the question still remains: Did the changing roles of women in the 1920s really have a significant effect on women’s roles today? In the next few pages, one will be given examples of women’s role before, during, and after the 1920s. In each paragraph, the roles, rights, impacts, and more that women had at these times will be explained. To conclude, a comparison on how women were thought to act in these different time periods will be made in order to come up with an answer for the question stated above.

Woman in the early days weren’t considered the luckiest people. Although they faced a lot of discrimination due to gender, they did have few rights. “During the 1920s, the amount of working woman had actually increased by 25 percent.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/usa/1920srev2.shtml . Women were also given rights to vote and they were known as flappers.

The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote, also many women were gaining financial independence due to the number of women working drastically increasing. (Roaring Twenties Society, Burns) The Twenties brought less rigid standards of behavior for women ( Chapter 15- Trails and Hope, Changes and Tension, Womens New Freedom) Full, ankle length dresses turned into tighter fitting knee length dresses, long hair was cut short, women began to wear makeup and smoke cigarettes. ( Chapter 15- Trails and Hope, Changes and Tension, Womens New Freedom) A symbol of the Roaring Twenties is the “flapper” women who lived life in the fast lane. (Roaring Twenties Society,Burns) In “Me and My Flapper Daughters” written by W.O. Saunders, he talks about how he praises his daughters and the younger people, even though sometimes he is astonished by what they do. For example, he describes how his daughters are “ amazing young female things, full of pep, full of joy, full of jazz…”. He also goes on to talk about how the young folks would look down upon the older people because of their

Women of the 1920s where beginning to change their social norms. At that time, peoples' view of how women should look and act began to change. Women of the 1920s were the start of that change. People wanted to social change which lead to women becoming more independent and more powerful. With the majority of women changing the social norm, others wanted to fit in, so they changed their ways to be

Women could vote, women could be rich and single; women took a massive leap forward from the previous years and challenged the traditional roles of a woman. Traditional roles of women? Before the 1920s, women were expected to do just the house work. But everything changed in the 20s.

In the 1920s the role of women was now increasing. The number of working women were now increasing by 25 percent, women were now given the right to vote, instead of wearing long skirts, they started to wear clothing that was more suitable for their daily activities, also getting a divorce was more simple and so the number of divorces doubled.