Even though women 's lives improved during the 1920s in many ways, they still faced inequality in the workplace. Women gained the right to vote and new freedom in the 1920 's, but they were still discriminated against in the workplace. They were prevented from most well-paying jobs and middle and upper-class white women were expected to stay home instead. Most poorer women still held jobs that were low paying and struggled to work to support themselves and their families. Women worked longer hours and got paid significantly less than men did.
The Glass Ceiling Exists as More Than Just an Inequality Some barriers exist as harder to overcome than others. For example, the glass ceiling or “concrete ceiling” as black women refer to it as. Qualification and ability have little bearing on advancement, while race and gender play a more important role. The racial and gender inequality needed a more impactful name because it’s discrimination on a higher level- discrimination that affects one’s lively hood and ability to support his or her family. As well as discrimination that effects the distribution of individuals doing well throughout the hierarchy of the workplace is unequally distributed.
The era of 1920s is known for flapper dresses, extravagant lifestyles, and reformation of women. Before this time, women were treated as property and did not have their own voices in politics and their personal lives. With the start of the 20th century, women yearned for a change. They wore shorter dresses, became more reckless, and took control of their lives. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a renowned author during the 1920s who provided commentary about the changes of women.
This movement fought for the right for women to vote because women were denied the democratic rights that were given to men and were forced to focus on the cult of domesticity. The movement started in the late eighteenth century however it was renewed during the Second Great Awakening when reform movements started gaining popularity. The suffrage movement was aided by the abolition movement because slavery gave women a reason to unite for a separate cause. This was a new reform movement, unlike women’s suffrage and abolition, which both had roots that were as deep as those of the country’s, and was unique because of the unusually undemocratic responses that society and its people reacted with. Unlike abolition and women’s suffrage, the asylum and penitentiary reform movement did not gather popularity
“Mill girls had been replaced in the mid-to late 1800s by Italian, Irish, and Portuguese immigrants who would work for lower wages” (“Harriet Hanson Robinson”). Although the textile mills thought they had found a better way to work without spending as much money on workers they were wrong. Most mill girls were already very experienced and good at their jobs, while immigrants needed to be taught all of their jobs and there was a strong language barrier which made everything more difficult. “One out of every three spinners, many under the age of twenty five, would die before completing ten years in the factory” (“Harriet Hanson Robinson”). With many of the mill girls not being able to survive in such harsh conditions and as they got fewer and fewer, it showed how important all of them were in the business.
Although many women did not question that way of life, there were some who hated it. In the article “Women and the Great depression” in the Gilmer Lehrman Institute of American History, Susan Ware wrote, “Women who sought relief or paid employment risked public scorn or worse for supposedly taking jobs and money away from more deserving men.” That quotation puts into perspective how women were treated as inferior to men. Women have also come a long way from the 1930s; they are now able to get almost any job they want. However, there still is a wage gap, and many men think they are better than women. In conclusion, women were not treated as equals to men, but they were still treated better than
Many states then began to adopt amendments that would allow women to vote. After this had happened women seemed to have gained what they wanted. The National Women’s Trade Union League was the also created to give regulated wages and better working conditions to women. Then, Susan B. Anthony’s women suffrage amendment hit the big leagues. It was introduced into Congress in 1878 and was passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate.
An example of a member of the VAD was Elsie Inglis. She was a Scottish doctor who helped the VAD as well as campaigning for women’s suffrage. On one hand, some argue that the work that women did showed they were as capable as men and the vote was the government’s way to show appreciation and thank women for the work they did during the war. On the other hand, some will argue that since the majority of women lost their jobs after the war, the hard work they did was not truly valued by the rest of the country. In addition to this, many working women didn’t get the vote as they were either too young or of a lower social class.
They were the rock that the family leaned on for guidance and support. As a product of these duties, women were more susceptible to more stress and other mental strains. Even though there is no scientific data to back up the thought that women were more emotional, dependent, and gentle, most men thought that women were more likely to develop mental illnesses and diseases. A common diagnosis that is seen amongst women during the 14th-19th century was the disease known as hysteria. “On the basis of Victorian
Liberal feminists argue that women have the same capacity as men for moral reasoning and work habits, but that patriarchy, particularly the sexist division of labor, has historically denied women the opportunity to express and practice this reasoning. These dynamics serve to shove women into the private sphere of the household and to exclude them from full participation in public life. Hence, gender inequality is a hazard not only to the highly capable, talented and deserving women but also to the economy as a whole. Both awareness of the existing gender inequality and implementation of policies that address gender inequities need to be strengthened. Reducing the amount of time women spend on unpaid work is also essential.