The changing position of women, including the flappers

It is important to remember that the experiences of ‘flappers’ during the 1920s was not representative of those of women as a whole. Name 6 characteristics of women who had the opportunity to be a flapper.

Northern

Urban

Young

Single

Middle-class

Employed

How did flappers get this name?

They did not fasten the flaps on their galoshes, leaving them to flap freely

Name at least 4 activities/mindsets of flappers that were seen as controversial (6 listed).

Carefree attitude to convention

Challenged double standards

Smoking

Drinking

Attending speakeasies and jazz clubs

Experimenting sexually using contraception

Which 3 factors affected the extent to which the lives of a group of women changed?

Race

Class

Geographical location

Based off of the above three factors (race, class, location), whcih group of women experienced teh most change?

White, middle class, northern women

Which amendment gave women the right to vote?

Which year was it passed?

Which year was it ratified?

The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution

1919

1920

Name 2 women who became members of congress, their house, their state, and which year they were elected.

Jeanette Rankin, House of Representatives, Montana, 1916

Rebecca Felton, Senate, Georgia, 1922

Give 4 roles that many traditional men, and women, thought that is was ‘right’ for women to continue to occupy.

Loyal wife

Housekeeper

Mother

Principal churchgoer within family

Give 2 claims of North Carolina male opponents of women’s suffrage maid.

‘Women are not the equal of men mentally’

Being able to vote ‘would take them out of their proper sphere of life’

Were these views only held by men?

No, many conservative women also believed that politics should be exclusively male, and were equally critical of the ‘flapper’ lifestyle.

Name two labour saving devices popular in the 1920s

How did this help women?

Was this always the case?

Vacuum cleaners, washing machines

Freed up time for leisure.

No

How did the number of divorces/year change from 1914-1929?

It doubled (100,000 - 200,000)

What did the increase in divorces suggest about the knock on effects of getting the vote and having more job opportunities for women?

More women were prepared to leave unhappy or abusive marriages.

How many women had jobs in 1929?

How does this compare to 1920?

10 million

24% more than in 1920

Give two new jobs that had a high percentage of female workers

Telephone operators

Cosmetic sections of department stores

How was work still unfair?

Men and women did not receive equal pay for the same job

How did some women suffer in the workplace after WW1 ended?

Those working in war industries lost their jobs when men returned from war.