Women's Roles In The 1920s Essay

Women's Roles in the 1920s Research Paper.

“Women's roles were constantly changing and have not stopped still to this day.” Before the 1920s men and women were thought to have two separate roles in life. People believed women should be concerned with their children, home, and religion, while the men took care of business and politics. But this all changed in the 1920s, women got the right to vote, began working, and changed their style. Altogether in the 1920s women's roles have changed drastically and so has the way men viewed women. Women did not have the same rights as men such as the right to vote, but that change after the 19th amendment was passed on June 4, 1919. But it was not an easy road. “The period 1800-1870, then, was one of the great--and often contradictory-- changes in the position of American women. By the end of the period, the debate over “Woman's proper place” had just began” (Dumenil). It all started in 1848 when the movement for women's rights started. Several generations of women suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, and lobbied to achieve their right to vote

Although very few women did so because colleges were not very welcoming to women. In the 1920s, only about forty-five percent of women with husbands who worked had jobs. Many believed that women should not work if their husbands did. Working for money gave women independence and by 1930 one in four women had a job. In the 1920s “Womens occupation in lower level jobs remained constant throughout the period” (Phuong). As the years went on women moved up in their jobs. Although there were an increasing amount of women in education and employment the main goal for a woman was still to be married. Most women only worked until they were married or became pregnant. Women joining the workforce was considered a huge change and so was womens styles during this