The 1920s was new start for women. Not only did they obtain the right to vote, but contraception was becoming popularized. Women were becoming more progressive not only with their ideas, but with their fashion as well. They began to lose the drab and conservative clothing of the older times, and began to reach for the new and more revealing clothing. When most people think of the 1920s many think of flappers and how they help revolutionize women to who were are today.
1920’s Fashion. This period can be defined as a time of cultural change and fresh beginnings. A time often referred to as the age of glitz and glamour. This all came about because American women were given the right to vote. Along with this privilege, a new sense of freedom, rights of feminism and self-expression flourished.
Feminism in the 1920s’ pushed women to care for their rights. Women were willing to do anything to better the existence of women; this included joining the Ku Klux Klan. Despite the uproar against the empowerment of women as sexually corrupt, women prevailed. Positive Effects Of Feminism In The 1920s’ Firstly, According to Erin Holliday-Karre, many believed the 1920s’ was an inactive period for feminism (2016). In
In the 1920’s, also known as the Roaring 20’s, fashion became important. It was a time of social change. Clothing changed women in social and economic society. Women freed themselves and started wearing more comfortable clothes. The women’s rights movement had a strong effect on women’s fashion.
Young females sought to be more adventurous, they were more outspoken, they weren’t afraid of anything and were always willing to do and experiment new things. The classified “New Woman” started to do activities that usually females never used to do before, they played sports, drove cars and danced. Their attitudes made new radical look on women. Women from older generation started to argue about the new generation of women, and disapproved the things they were starting to do. Some women abandoned the traditional, and followed the new women’s rebellion.
In addition, due to their duties to their households and families, it did not give them the time and the chance to pursue their education further. However, due the American and European influence, it changed the thought of what should women do that the society drawn, as they became more aware of the right to have a better education, which helped to create the suffragette movements. According to Murray, the feminism movement in the early 20th century sought to ensure women’s access to higher education and professional employment (p.119). The movement called for changes and improvements in female education, where they would have better schooling higher than secondary education. For instance, in Chile, Mexico and Argentina, new national systems of normal schools and institution had begun to admit young women (Murray, p.120).
Today in society women are viewed as strong, independent people who have many opportunities and choices regarding how they want to live. Unfortunately, this has not always been the case. In most of the early 1900’s, being a wife and a mother was the only option for women, and those who did not like that path were considered “unfeminine.” During the 1950’s and 1960’s, this began to change. Women 's liberation groups formed such as the New York Radical Women, and many powerful leaders emerged, such as Gloria Steinem, Robin Morgan, and Betty Friedan. These powerful leaders influenced women to become increasingly independent through the decades.
“Like all other women I thought that there couldn’t be much improvement in the same old task of washing dishes.” This quote by Christine Frederick in 1912 speaks so much truth about the way women lived before the 1920s. Many women had believed that they were sought out to stay at home and be the regular housewife that the American people portrayed them to be. None of them probably believed that they would soon get the privilege to vote, have a job, or to even dress a little less modestly. They would soon come to the realization that their way of life would be changed when the 1920s came rushing in. It is thought that the new freedoms given to women in the 20s helped in their rise of new fashions and in the initial shock of their newfound power
Since women could work by themselves, they seldom went back home. Women were much more than just staying home with their kids and doing house work. They become independent both financially and literally (Women’s Role in the 1920s). By the 1920's and 1930's, greater access to education and continued economic prosperity allowed many middle-class women to take roles as teachers, secretaries and temporary office workers (Women's Lifestyles in the 1920s & '30s). In a word, all the works that women did built up their new standard and changed others’ point of
In 1930’s a woman's life was very a very exclusive one in the way they could act. They could not do anything fun and there was few jobs that they could do that were important. But women today can do anything they want. They do not have to act a certain way in order to be respectable. Women today have so much more in life for them.