Women in the 1920s

1. Women in the 1920s Mr. Goddard | PLUSH | March 2009

2. What you are studying • California Content Standard 11.5.4 • “Analyze the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution and the changing role of women in society”

3. Women in the 1920s • WWI has just ended and the people of America are rejoicing. • Women style has been very uptight and very proper. Women wore floor length dresses, long hair, no make up and corsets… it was time to break out of the conservative style. The twenties was all about youth.

4. Historical view of women • Historically, women have been considered intellectually inferior to men. • They were seen as major sources of temptation and evil. • Women were also considered naturally weaker than men “Woman was created to be man's helpmeet, but her unique role is in conception . . . since for other purposes men would be better assisted by other men." - Thomas Aquinas “Woman is the gate of the devil, the path of wickedness, the sting of the serpent, in a word a perilous object.” – St. Jerome

5. Women before WW1 • Women formed half the population of the USA . • Before the war middle-class women were expected to lead restricted lives. • The had to wear very restrictive clothing and behave politely. • They were not expected to wear make-up. • There relationships with men were strictly controlled. They had to have a chaperone with them when they went out with their boyfriend.

6. Women before WW1 CONT. • They were expected not to play sport or smoke in public. • In most states they could not vote. • Very few jobs were open to women. • Working women were in low paid jobs like cleaning, dressmaking and secretarial work. In the 1800’s, women’s fashion were more like this. Skirt all the way to floor, bonnet covering long hair. Dressy late 1800’s-early 1900’s fashion for women.

7. Women after WW1 • The war gave women experience of skilled factory work. • In 1920 women got the vote in all states. • The car made them freer. • Domestic work was made easier by new electrical goods like vacuum cleaners and washing machines. • Younger women wore more daring clothes. • They smoked in public and drank with men without chaperones. They even kissed in public.

8. Women after WW1 cont. • In urban areas women took on more jobs. In 1929 there were 24% more women working than in 1920. • Women became financially independent. • Women were less likely to stay in unhappy marriages. In 1929 there were twice as many divorces as in 1914. • The media portrayed women in a different light – sex sold much better than anything else!

9. Suffrage started in the 1920s • 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18th, 1920. • “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

10. Definition of a Flapper “Flapper” first started in Great Britain after WWI. It was used to describe young girls that were awkward and have not yet entered womanhood. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald describes flappers as “Lovely, expensive and about 19”. He drew the girls wearing unbuckled galoshes that made a “flapping” noise when they walked. The Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins describes a flapper as a “Giddy, attractive, slightly unconventional, somewhat foolish girl full of wild surmises and inclined to revolt against the precepts and admonitions of her elders”. Flappers had the image and the attitude to match.

11. Flappers • These women challenged traditional American values. • Characteristics of a Flapper: • Short, bobbed hair • Short hems on their skirts • Listened to Jazz music • Wore makeup • Drank hard liquor • Smoked cigarettes • Treating sex in a more casual manner • Were opposed to the conventional social and sexual norms

12. Life of a Flapper The life of a flapper was a lot of fun! It consisted of constant partying. Flappers smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol – all of which were unheard of if you were a woman! They lived very reckless lives and would cling to their youth. Flappers were the first of the women to flaunt their sexuality. Their lifestyles were shown in the way that they dressed and danced.

13. The Flapper Look • The twenties changed the way the world looked at hair styles. “The Bob” is the infamous hair style that was everywhere in the 20’s. • Most women haircuts were very short in the back and 20 % longer in the front. • The Cloche Hat was a must during the day. This was a hat that fit snuggly over short hair and reached the eyebrows.

14. Entertainment • Dancing was a flappers favorite pastime. They would dance the Charleston, Black Bottom and the Shimmy. • The May 1920 edition of Atlantic Monthly said that “flappers trot like foxes, limp like lame ducks, one step like cripples, and all the barbaric lawp of strange instruments which transform the whole scene into a moving picture of a fancy ball in bedliam”.

15. Other Women • In much of the U.S., women only read about flappers in magazines, and many disapproved of flappers or wouldn’t dare to be so reckless. • Some older women’s rights reformers thought flappers were only interested in fun. • Many did not take flappers seriously. Flappers • Flappers shocked society by cutting their hair, raising hemlines, wearing makeup, smoking, drinking, and dancing. • The dress style was popular among young, rebellious girls. • .The term flapper suggested an independent, free lifestyle. • Flappers mostly lived in cities, though rural people read about them in magazines. Flappers were a city thing One popular image that reflects changes for women in the Roaring Twenties was the flapper, a young woman of the era who defied traditional ideas of proper dress and behavior. The flapper craze took hold mainly in American cities, but in many ways the flappers represented the rift between cities and rural areas.

16. But it was much more than flappers

17. Alice Paul - ERA The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) • She was the head of National Women’s Party. • Felt that the 19th Amendment wasn’t enough. • Pushed for an Equal Rights Amendment to be added to the constitution. • “Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction.” • It was first introduced to Congress in 1923. • Made all forms of discrimination based on sex illegal. • Never passed in Congress.

18. Sanger and women’s bodies • In 1921, she founded the American Birth Control League (ABCL) • Today known as Planned Parenthood • In 1923, she established the Clinical Research Bureau. • The first legal birth control clinic in the U.S. • Women were then able to control their own bodies. • This movement educated women about existing birth control methods. • A 1936, a Supreme Court decision declassified birth control information as obscene.

19. Women and their jobs • In 1920, the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor was established to gather information about the situation of women at work, and to advocate for changes it found were needed. • Many suffragists became actively involved with lobbying for legislation to protect women workers from abuse and unsafe conditions.

20. “Pink Collared” Jobs • Gave women a taste of the work world. • Low paying service occupations. • Made less money than men did doing the same jobs. • Examples of jobs: • Secretaries • Teachers • Telephone operators • Nurses

21. “Pink Collared” Jobs cont • Women were confined to traditional “feminine” fields in the work force. • The “new professional women” was the most vivid and widely publicized image in the 1920s. • But in reality, most middle class married women remained at home to care for their children.

22. Women controlling their Education • By 1928, women were earning 39% of the college degrees given in the United States. • It had risen from the original 19% it was at the beginning of the century. • Example: • In 1926, Sarah Lawrence College was founded as an all girls school

23. Women and sports - 1928 Olympics • These were the first Olympics that women were allowed to compete in. • There were many arguments about these actions. • Some argued that it was historically inappropriate since women did not compete in ancient Greek Olympics. • Others said that physical competition was “injurious” to women. The 1928 Dutch Women’s Gymnastics team. They won the gold medal in the group event.

24. New Family Roles • The 1920s brought a shift in many people’s attitudes toward men and women’s relationships. • The basic rules defining female behavior were beginning to change. • American women continued to have primary responsibility for caring for the home, and most still depended on men for financial support. • More, however, sought greater equality. New Opportunities • The 19th Amendment allowed women to vote, and some were elected to state and local office. • In general, however, women voted about as much as the men in their lives. • Many women had taken jobs during World War I but lost them when men came home. • During the 1920s women joined the workforce in large numbers, though mostly in the lowest-paying professions. • Women attended college in greater numbers. KEY SUMMARY - New Roles for Women

25. 1920s women Limitations and Exceptions • Women were still paid less than men, even when they did the same job. • In politics, women in no way achieved equality with men. Only a handful of women had been elected by 1929. • There was a strong conservative tradition in USA. A combination of traditional religion and old country values kept most American women in a much more restricted role. • “Most middle class women concentrated on managing the home…Their daughters…were far more likely to prepare for careers as mothers and housewives.”