Topic 5, Lesson 10: How liberated were women in the 1920s?

Topic 5, Lesson 10: How liberated were women in the 1920s?

Women’s Status Before 1917

Before 1917:

• women were very much second-class citizens

• no part in politics

• did not have the vote

• limited employment opportunities

Topic 5, Lesson 10: How liberated were women in the 1920s?

The Impact of WW1 on Women

• Over 1 million women helped the war effort

• Roles of women during WW1 included: 90,000 serving in the US armed forces in Europe, women working in jobs traditionally done by men such as heavy industry, engineering works and transport

• WW1 proved that women could do the job just as well as men

• Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920

• Labour-saving devices such as vacuum cleaners and washing machines provided women with extra time to go find employment

• Mary Pickford and Clara Bow became stars of silent movies

• Mae West, Gloria Swanson and Jean Harlow became stars of the ‘talkies’ and role models for many younger girls

[Photo shows Clara Bow]

Topic 5, Lesson 10: How liberated were women in the 1920s?

Women’s Employment in the 1920s

Positive Advancements

Negative Holdbacks

• By 1930, 2 million more women were employed than had been 10 years earlier

• Women tended to be employed in unskilled, low-pay jobs

• A third of university degrees were awarded to women in 1930

• Only 4% of university professors were women

• Medical schools allocated only 5% of places to women

• Men were still paid a lot more for doing the same job

• In 1927, the government took the side of employers when women textile workers in Tennessee went on strike for better pay

Topic 5, Lesson 10: How liberated were women in the 1920s?

Women and 1920s Politics

Positive Advancements

Negative Holdbacks

• A few women did make progress in gaining political power

e.g. Nellie Taylor Ross of Wyoming became the first woman to be elected governor of a state in 1924

• These women who did gain political power were exceptions

• Most women had little interest in politics during the 1920s

Topic 5, Lesson 10: How liberated were women in the 1920s?

Women and 1920s Birth Control

Positive Advancements

Negative Holdbacks

• Backstreet abortions may have killed as many as 50,000 women per year in America

Margaret Sanger:

• Worked as a nurse - this is where her inspiration to support the legalisation of birth control was founded

• Sanger believed that the ability to control family size was crucial to ending the cycle of women’s poverty

• Launched a magazine in 1914 called The Woman Rebel in which she advocated for birth control

• Widespread dissemination (spreading information) was difficult because the Comstock Act of 1873 banned the distribution of both written articles and items on contraception through the US mail

• In 1921, Sanger founded the American Birth Control League to gain support from social workers, medical professionals and the public for birth control

• Sanger’s steadfast focus on birth control sometimes had unintended consequences. She spent time with the eugenics movement, which sought to “breed” out “undesirable” populations by limiting their ability to procreate through birth control and sterilisation. The eugenics movement had a greater influence in the mid 20th century when extremist ideas such as those of the Nazi’s had unequivocal consequences.

Topic 5, Lesson 10: How liberated were women in the 1920s?

Flappers

• Women living in rural areas would not be flappers

• Middle-class and upper-class women in Northern states would be flappers

• Subverted traditional roles of women by

wearing make-up

cutting their hair short and dying it black

smoking

wearing heels

wearing short skirts

wearing lots of jewellery

went out to speakeasies

• Actress, Joan Crawford, was the most famous flapper

• Flappers were seen as too extreme by many traditional groups, especially in rural areas with strong disapproval from religious societies

• Others saw the Flappers as pleasure-seeking women with few other attributes