Women Affecting US Society During The 1920's

Imagine a time of war when alcohol is prohibited, jazz music fills the streets, and people think women should be laboring in the kitchen rather the workforce. It’s difficult to grasp this, because society has come such a long way. However, the roaring twenties was an age of dramatic social and political change. After the Civil War, the nation experienced historical economic growth. This was a foreign concept to most people; citizens were buying the same goods, listening to the same music and using the same slang for years. Many Americans were uncomfortable with this new out of the ordinary “mass culture,” actually some found this created more conflict than celebration. This euphoric conclusion of the century roused women to stand up for themselves and the rights they were entitled to. Eventually women’s

society during the roaring twenties were well reflected in the way that people, especially women, dressed,” (Lewis 198). Before World War One, the Gibson Girl was the ideal normal to describe the average woman. Women were usually were found in long dresses with high collars, accompanied by stiff corsets underneath (Rosenberg). The female population of this period were expected to dress modest. They were symbols of innocence, protectors of morality, and were expected to yield to their husbands and be devoted to their children. It wasn’t until the 1920s women’s fashion sense became a bit less traditional and much more scandalous. Women began to wear short skirts, backless dresses and low necklines. They accessorized with strings of beads and chunky high heels. Most cut off their long, luscious locks for shorter, bobbed hair. Women used makeup to finish off their new look. They plucked and redrew their eyebrows, wore heavy face powder, bright blush, dark red lipstick and smudged dark eye liner to give them a smoky eyed look (Howes 193). This new woman was more modern than the one before, but not any less