Emancipation Of American Women In The 1920's

At the conclusion of the Victorian Era, women throughout America slowly began to experience new levels of cultural empowerment. Then, with the end of World War 1, European influence, the wartime “live like there’s no tomorrow” attitude, and a taste for independent living working as nurses or war workers overseas, were all forces which contributed to the emancipation of American women. The 1920s era, commonly known as the Roaring Twenties, was characterized by a revolt of manners and morals by the younger generation against previous Victorian Era societal norms. Such norms include the domesticity of women and the lack of female representation in the predominantly male workforce. Further women were to always be in the presence of a chaperone

Furthermore, housework chores were burdensome, and women were delegated to do them. For instance, homes at that time were relatively large and without electrical appliances, the maintaining of them was labor-intensive. Food preparation and laundering was time-consuming and the ready-to-wear clothing industry was undeveloped. Moreover, the shortage of female employment opportunities, as well as restrictive cultural expectations, resulted in only a narrow range of careers to be available to women. For example, for the comparatively few middle class women who pursued a career outside of the home, they “...had been largely restricted to school-teaching, social-service work, nursing, stenography, and clerical work in business houses” (Allen, 80). Therefore, women’s identities during the very early 1900s were heavily influenced by the work they provided in the home, and the traditional norms of the times. Thus, while these women made efforts towards independence from the traditional norms, they were almost completely reliant on