Women's Role In 1920

In the 1920's women's roles were soon starting to change. After World War One it was called the "Jazz Age", known for new music and dancing styles. It was also known as the "Golden Twenties" or "Roaring Twenties" and everyone seemed to have money. Both single and married women we earning higher- paying jobs. Women were much more than just staying home with their kids and doing house work. They become independent both financially and literally. Women also earned the right to vote in 1920 after the Nineteenth Amendment was adopted. They worked hard for the same or greater equality as men and while all this was going on they also brought out a new style known as the flapper. All this brought them much much closer to their goal.

In the 1920's the term flapper referred to a "new breed" of women. They wore short skirts and dresses which were straight and very loose. The arms were left bare and the waistline was dropped to the hips. By 1927 the length of the skirts had rose just below the knee which when they danced would be shown. The chests appeared to look very small and women would tape themselves to look even smaller. Bras were also sold to make them appear very small. Their hairstyles were cut very short and were known as a bob, another popular style that was later introduced was the "Eaton" or "Shingle". These styles had slicked the hair back and covered the ears with curls. Women started wearing "kiss proof" lipstick in shades of red, their eyes were ringed a dark black color, and their skin was powered to look very pale. One of the big things with the flappers were that they smoked cigarettes through long holders and drank alcohol openly in public now. They also started dating freely and danced all night long very provocatively. Jazz music was rising in population and the flappers brought it out even more. Not all women changed into becoming a flapper, yet the little numbers impacted the 1920's in a huge way. Many women just adopted the style for the easy convenience when working. Margaret Sanger, was concerned about women who lacked knowledge of contraception, and then led the battle for birth control. She dealt with legal, religious, and societal barriers but soon made women think about accepting and using birth control. Many states modified divorce laws to protect women's rights. Women attended college and worked, but they still earned less money than men and were excluded from many management positions.

During World War One many women were thought to only serve their country and give it its every need. The American Federation of Labor was not supportive of working women. They did not want women competing for men's jobs. Women took any jobs they could get and earned very low wages. But throughout the 1920's about fifteen percent of normal wage-earning women became professionals. During the 1920s, one in four women over the age of sixteen we a part of the work force. Also in the 1920s the number of women working rose by fifty percent. When women began earning their own money they realized they now had money to spend on extra stuff like clothes. Most of the working women were single and white, yet the percentages of the others, like married or different races, were increasing slowly. A lot of businesses were prejudice against women getting professional jobs. Most hospitals refused to hire female doctors and legal firms refused to hire them as lawyers. Women were still not getting paid near as equally as men and were expected to quit their jobs if they got married or pregnant. As workers they were more influenced by society and realized