Few decades are as romanticized or chastised as the 1920’s. The 1920’s brought about massive political and social change. Between 1920 and 1929, America’s wealth more than doubled bringing a more affluent yet unaccustomed idea of a consumer society. It was the first time that more  Americans lived in cities rather than farms and people from coast to coast bought the same goods. With the end of World War I, there came glorious parties and celebration. People were thankful to have been spared in the most horrific war seen yet. However, there was more to the 1920’s than the economic prosperity and partying. The 1920’s was the decade where society tried to figure out who women were and what women want.  It was the most influential decade for women in Western society. Women had to prove through jobs, education, athletics, political and social reforms that they were as capable as men and end the gender stereotypes placed on them.

      During World War I the entire nature and structure of working society shifted. As men were sent off to war, women assumed many of the jobs that were previously held by men. Before the 1920’s women had worked, but the nature of the work changed dramatically during this time period. There was a shift away from agricultural and domestic service from the advent of industrialization. The war brought the reality of higher wages and new opportunities; there was a great expansion in factories and clerical jobs and careers for women. Women composed 23.6 percent of the labor force in 1920 (Brown). However women were not entirely welcomed into the working world of men. Syracuse psychologist Floyd Allport explains the stereotype placed on women, “1) Men and women in their inherited natures are fundamentally different. 2) But it is not so much the men who are different, as the women. 3) The sexual functions in women have a potent influence in shaping all their natural tendencies,” (Brown 40). Women faced many stereotypes and challenges in society. Although they had more opportunities than before, women had to prove themselves worthy of their male counterparts. Women had many struggles in the workforce with long held prejudices and the fear of female competition. These stereotypes and prejudice led to unequal pay. The wage differential was great, generally women received 52 to 55 percent of a man’s earnings. Brown explains the impact of the wage differential on women, “What women’s wages signaled to women was their inferiority outside the confines of the home, the need for male protection and the realization that independence and mobility were not seen as goals appropriate for them,” (85). Despite being brought into the working world, women still found themselves treated as inferiors through these wage discrepancies. Many women entered the workforce, for the first time many working the same jobs as men. With this they faced prejudice and wage inequalities, but this only increased the determination for equal rights.

       Before the 1920’s there had begun a push for higher education for women, however the duties of cleaning and cooking fell on them in coeducational institutions. The responsibility of the home was still the reality for women. However, education was impacted by the Progressive Era. There were major changes in curriculum for girls in secondary school, the number of subjects escalated from twenty-three to forty-eight. Yet even though the majority of girls were expecting to work after high school, the long term vocation for graduating women was still a homemaker. At the college level, women met the major intellectual and social challenges as they entered colleges in record numbers. Brown reports, “In 1900, 85,00 women were in college; in 1920 the number increased to 283,000; by 1930, 481,000 were enrolled, 43.7 percent of the total college population,” (133).  There was a massive influx in enrollment in colleges, especially the prestigious Seven Sisters: Mount Holyoke, Wellesley, Vassar, Barnard, Smith, Bryn Mawr and Radcliffe. The 1920’s brought a great change in educational curriculum for girls and enrollment in colleges.

      Women of the 1920’s challenged another stereotype that had previously confined them, the idea of the true woman. Brown explained this change, “The stereotype of the weak and shrinking violet was challenged by the cadre of athletic champions. Tennis star Hazel Wightman... was the mother of five children when she won Olympic gold medals in doubles and mixed doubles and the Wimbledon double championship in 1924,” (42). Athleticism of women was destroying all previous notions of women’s physical inadequacy. The image of the feeble and timid woman was replaced with the strong and powerful athletes that proved women’s physical capability. Amelia Earhart was another woman who challenged the previous standards and constrictions for women in male dominated fields. Brown discusses Earhart, “The first woman to solo across the Atlantic and the first person to fly the Atlantic twice. Earhart's feat continued the erosion of the lingering true-woman stereotype,” (44). Amelia Earhart took on challenges that had never been faced by women before and proved to disbelievers what women were truly capable of.  Through athleticism, determination, and skill, women were slowly breaking down the prejudices and stereotypes that had restrained them before.

      In 1919, women gained the right to vote, radically changing their impact on politics. At first this did not seem to change the vote greatly because most of the women that voted initially were upper class and the vote for presidency was divided mostly on ethnic and socioeconomic lines. However, the effect of women’s votes became clear in 1921 through the Sheppard Towner Act. The act provided federal funding for education and prenatal care with the creation of women and children’s health clinics. Founder and editor of American History USA, Dan Bryan explains how the act was achieved, “Spurred on by an intense lobbying effort, including threats of mass defection from the newly franchised women voters, the bill passed Congress by a margin of 279-39”. The Sheppard Towner Act was the first federally funded social welfare program. Women had acquired a voice in politics and votes to create real change.

      During the 1920’s social life changed drastically for women. A new woman was born in the 1920’s revolutionizing all previous social standards that had been set before. The contemporary historian Preston W. Slosson describes this change for women. "Thus the flapper of the 1920s stepped onto the stage of history, breezy, slangy and informal in manner; slim and boyish in form; covered in silk and fur that clung to her as close as onion skin; with carmined lips, plucked eyebrows and close-fitting helmet of hair; gay, plucky and confident... She cared little for approval and went about her ‘act,’ whether it were a Marathon dancing contest, driving an automobile at seventy miles an hour, a Channel swim, a political campaign or a social-service settlement," (Brown 32). The flapper styles and clothing were a dramatic change. Women cut their hair short in a bob style and the dresses were all shorter. Some women bound their chests to look more like boys and the waists for flapper dresses dropped to the hipline. The Jazz Age changed the style of music and dancing and women stopped wearing corsets for dancing because these dances required women to be able to move freely. Flappers smoked, drank and wore makeup which had previously only been associated with prostitution. Flappers had completely broken away from old values with these extreme changes, not only looking different but acting different as well. They were socially liberated and reckless which shocked their elders. Flappers were also generally educated about sex and did not have a problem discussing it openly, which had never been seen before. Political activist Cornelia Bryce Pinchot summed up the feeling of women, “My feminism tells me that women can bear children, charm her lovers, boss a business, swim the channel, stand at the Armageddon and battle for the Lord-all in a day’s work,” (Brown 29). Feminist movements were changing women’s perception of themselves and their capabilities. Women were no longer content with the societal rules that had been dictated for them. They rejected the previous social confines for women and made their own role in society.  

      The 1920’s proved to be the most significant decade for women through jobs, education, athletics, political and social reforms. Women entered the workplace in record numbers, working some of the same jobs as men for the first time. College enrollment for women skyrocketed during the 1920’s, making up more than 2/5 of college students by 1930. In addition, women proved themselves physically capable through incredible athletic feats and gained new political power with the ability to vote. Finally, through flappers, women revolutionized social standards for women. Of course, the 1920’s did not bring an end to gender barriers and create complete equality. The 1920’s was a radical change for women, but it was not without opposition and challenges. The 1920’s brought new opportunities and freedoms but women had to continue to fight for every right and equality to accomplish their goals for society. Brown explains, “The new women, across the generations, entered the 1920s with high expectations, ready for challenge and for choice. They began the decade with victory in the suffrage fight. They had won the right to express their political choice. They must now decide how to use it,” (47). It is important to be aware of the achievements women made in the 1920’s and the continuous effort for gender equality today.

Work Cited:

Bryan, Dan. "Working and Voting: Women in the 1920s." American History USA. Web. 27 January, 2015. http://www.americanhistoryusa.com/working-voting-women-1920s/. Dan Bryan, the editor and founder of American History USA discusses women working and voting in the 1920s. He explains the effect of women voting in the Sheppard-Towner Act. Working for women also had a substantial change with the rise of the corporate office that created many clerical occupations for women. Bryan also shares the different creative occupations sought by the twenties woman, and the societal effects of these occupational changes.

Dumenil, Lynn. "The New Woman and the Politics of the 1920s." OAH Magazine of History 21.3, Reinterpreting the 1920s (2007): 22-26. Web. http://www.trumanlibrary.org /educ/betweenthewars/Reinterpreting1920s.pdf . Lynn Dumenil describes in the essay the idea of the new woman in the 1920s and the change in politics. She uses an in depth analysis to look at the changes in the family dynamic and the female sexual liberation. Dumenil also analyzes the change in political activism and women’s increasing participation in the workforce. All of these, Dumenil shares, broadens the understanding of economic, political and social aspects of the 1920s.  

Dobie, Edgar. "Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies." Sophisticated Ladies: Women of the 1920's. Web. 25 January, 2015. http://www.arenastage.org/shows-tickets/sub-text/2009-10-season/sophis ticated-ladies/sophisticated-ladies.shtml. Edgar Dobie describes the change in the 1920s for women, socially and legally. He shares the changes with women rights starting with the right to vote and the struggles for African American women who were still kept from voting in Southern states. Beyond voting rights, women also focused on challenging gender roles and standards. Edgar Dobie speaks on the Jazz Age with the flapper as a symbol of the youth movement that changed all previous ideas of womanhood.

Rosenberg, Jennifer. "Flappers in the Roaring Twenties." Web. 26 January, 2015. http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/a/flappers.htm. Jennifer Rosenberg discusses the new kind of woman that emerged in the 1920s. Styles changed from the Gibson Girl to flappers after World War I. Rosenberg talks about the struggles of the war and how it affected both men and women. After the brutality in the trenches the men had a hard time adjusting to normal society and pretending it didn’t happen, and women did not want to return to the social rules before the war. Rosenberg also talks about the image and attitude of the flapper. Finally, she shares what brought the end of the roaring twenties and flapperhood.

Thomas, Pauline. "Flapper Fashion 1920s." 1920s Flapper Fashion History. Web. 28 January, 2015.http://www.fashion-era.com/flapper_fashion_1920s.htm#The%20Short%20Skirt%20Misconception%20Of%20The%20Twenties. Pauline Thomas explains the socio economic changes from World War I. High fashion was originally just for the wealthy women, but flapper dresses were much easier to make and the flapper fashion became very popular with the middle class.  The war changed the role of women more than any campaigning and protesting could have. Thomas discusses the history of flappers and their embracement of all things modern. She shares the different hemlines and masculine silhouette of 1920s women with shapeless clothing and flattened chests. Finally, Thomas describes the bob haircut that was a universal fashion change. All of these fashion changes give more insight into the role of women in the 1920s and the way the world was changing.