American Women In The 1920s Analysis

Emily Gibbons

Dr. Katie Foss

American Media and Social Institutions

11 November 15

A Cultural Comparison of American Women from the 1920s and the 1970s Women in the broad spectrum of American history have dramatically changed their roles in the family, workplace, and the world. Women from the 1920s began to leave the common role of the household keeper and started to explore what it is like to be in tune with their own aspirations. Women from the 1970s lived in a time of “make love not war” so they were very in tune with what they had in mind for their aspirations, but what makes this decade special is the sex appeal that emerged with women in the media. The 1920s are comparable to the same picture that Fitzgerald painted in his novel, The

Women could legally vote with the passing of the 19th amendment, giving them more of an idea to be comparably equal to a man. Women of this decade also started to find jobs and create futures for themselves that would not have been imagined a decade earlier. This new found freedom backed with the 19th amendment to have equal rights gave some women the excuse they needed to become as extravagant as they wanted. Women who took advantage of this newfound freedom were given the commonly known title of ‘flappers’ that we are familiar with. According to history.org, “[A flapper is ]a young woman with bobbed hair and short skirts who drank, smoked and said what might be termed “unladylike” things, in addition to being more sexually “free” than previous generations.” Towards the end of the decade movies were a very popular hit among all generations. The movie I chose to utilize is a classic film called Show People. This movie premiered in 1928 and is about a young lady from Georgia who goes to Hollywood in the hopes of becoming an actress but also with the choice of having to sacrifice who she is to become what she wants to be. The lead female role also falls in love with a man who helps her through all her tribulations,

Contemporary media had done a very effective job at associating the image of flappers with the 1920s using popular works such as The Great Gatsby. People identify this decade of women very easily. Comparatively, the 1970s idea of women focused on the era of the ‘hippie’ in the style of clothing that was popular at the time and is still the image represented today. Culturally the representation of 70s women is found through the simplicity of bell bottom jeans and flower headbands. Women of the modern era are still working on expanding their roles, but women working as a group have been exceeding the expectation now for just over 100