20th Century Women

The roles and expectations of women have varied through cultures as well as time, itself. Often some women held greater power and importance in governments whereas others hardly had a voice. As time has progressed, there have been many things that have changed for the female sex. However, there have also been many things that remained the same, including the fact that women in the 20th century had more advantages in health, involvement in war and politics, and legal rights.
Firstly, the living rates for women getting out of the process of childbirth between 1800 and 1900 had been gradually going lower, especially due to advances in medicine, thus proving a higher advantage for women later on. Though it’s naturally expected for many deaths

of the 1800’s to be linked to the fact that vaccines weren’t invented until the later in the century, it was often for women that “childbirth remained the greatest danger to their lives” (Volo [page 33]).

Often women’s bodies weren’t able to handle the strain of childbirth, or there were complications to which no solutions had yet been used regularly, such as the cesarean section. If it had not been the act of bringing a child into this world that brought death upon the mother, it would have been puerperal fever which “affected, on average, 6 to 9 women in every 1000 deliveries, killing 2 to 3 of them with peritonitis or septicemia” (Loudon). Modern science hadn’t yet reached the conclusion that this had been a simple bacterial infection, worsened by epidemics. During the 1800’s, it had become the most common cause of death in women after birth, being at fault for over 50% of mortalities. In contrast, the amount of women suffering through childbirth had fallen due to the popularization of the cesarean section at the end of the 1800’s and beginning

of the 1900’s, further benefiting them from then on. Through developments in the practice, it wasn’t until the early twentieth century that the german obstetrician Adolf Kehrer suggested that “a low incision would aid recovery and reduce the risk of death…. and his incision method became popular” (Mandal). The mortality rate fell soon after, saving multiple women. Clearly the advancement lead to a longer life for mothers in the 20th century who otherwise wouldn’t have made it.
Secondly, women’s roles in both wars was extremely important, yet the outcomes have proved much higher for women of the 1900’s. During the Civil War, women tended to men on the war front as nurses, treating trauma to the best of their talent. They came into action, and often went into the battlefield, therefore putting their own lives at risk as the soldiers of the war had in fighting the opposing side. And so it was that “immediately after the Civil War, Susan B. Anthony, a strong and outspoken advocate of women's rights, demanded that the Fourteenth Amendment include a guarantee of the vote for women as well as for African-American males” (Lib. of Cong.). However, the role of women in the government had not been included as a result, and would continue to be overshadowed by that of the men for years to come. It was not until the first World War that the women in the United States got the right they deserved. As they had in the Civil War, women were also involved directly in the war, and were now actually officially serving in the navy and the marines as nurses. The difference between this time and the previous century was that the fight for the right to vote had been relit and the fire had burned beyond Susan B. Anthony’s. The Nineteenth Amendment had been passed by Congress in 1919, which states: “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex” (U.S. Const. am. 19.). America had come to be in 1776, and it took 143 years for everyone to have an actual say in which way the country should be lead. While a step forward after multiple steps back, it was revolutionary, and proved to be greater for the women in the 1900’s.
Finally, women weren’t expected to have much to be in charge of other than the children and household, but clothing came to be in the grips of the 20th century woman.

Earlier in this essay there was information regarding the fact that one of the leading causes for death of women in the 19th century was the process of natural childbirth, however, “the second leading death among women remained fire” (Volo). It makes no sense at first, but due to the large amounts of fabric worn by women, and the fact that candle flame was one of the only sources of light, it tended to occur a lot. Among the few who tried to take the fashions of women into their own hands, mostly for safety issues, Amelia Bloomer was the one to speak out best. Having been a suffragette and an advocate for women’s rights, “she is best known for advocating a dress reform that included looser tops and short skirts with a pair of pants underneath” (“Amelia Bloomer”). It is clear to see that in any historical film or image that the outfits women wore were rather large and didn’t leave room for much movement. The ambition to change this was later put down with the arguments of the 4 virtues (domesticity, piety, purity, submissiveness) having been violated. In contrast, the women of the 20th century had more reign over what was worn. While previous fashions were restrictive and generally conservative, it was in the 1920’s that “women began to liberate themselves from constricting clothes for the first time and openly

embrace more comfortable styles like pants and short skirts” (“The History of 20th Century Women’s Clothing”). The clothing was able to fit and compliment the physique of women as much as it went against the traditional dress. There was resistance at first, but the choice to wear what they wanted had been established. Fashion was a choice, and a way for women to express themselves. The freedom proves that the women of the 1900’s had it better.
Overall, while the women of both eras had to deal with many struggles at the hands of men, in the end it was the women of the 20th century who ended up benefiting more from it all. There’s the fact that their mortality rates weren’t regularly and expectedly based on the lives of their children. As well as the fact that their voices were heard by the governments for once. Not to mention the fact that even after they’d still been restricted in many ways, the fact that they would rebel for a piece of clothing in order to express themselves came eventually.