Flapper: The Role Of Women In The 1920's

When we think about men and women prior to the 1920’s, we think of their typical roles; the woman as the housewife and the man as the worker. We also think of the man having more freedoms and opportunities than the woman. Through out the 1920’s, despite their differences, equality slowly became part of the big picture. The role of women in society had taken a huge turn. From the right to vote to having new personal freedoms, the 20’s were a time of the “new women.” This “new woman” was also considered the “flapper.” In Joshua Zeitz book, “Flapper,” this term was “the notorious character type who bobbed her hair, smoked cigarettes, drank gin, sported short skirts, and passed her evenings in steamy jazz clubs, where she danced in a shockingly immodest fashion with a revolving cast of male suitors” (Zeitz, 6). Women who chose to take on this new style, adopted new fashions, personal freedoms, and challenged the traditional housewife role of women. With the flappers’ new rebellious lifestyle being introduced, women slowly gained the rights and some of the same freedoms as men. Significant changes for

He says “Almost four of every ten working women qualified as white-collar. Their jobs demanded that they dress fashionably, groom themselves carefully, and stay abreast of aesthetic and cultural trends. At ornate department stores, downtown law firms, advertising agencies, and government offices, they brushed shoulders with professional men (and some professional women) and learned to identify as middle class, even when the cost of middle class lifestyle far outstripped their salaries” (Zeits, 93).

With women working higher class jobs and doing the same jobs as men, they slowly gained more freedoms and equality. During this time, “Flapperdom was every bit as much an expression of class aspirations as it was a statement of personal freedoms” (Zeits,