Essay On Women In The 1920s

Victoria McCarty
Mrs. Lilley
English III
19 April 2017
It All Began With the 19th Amendment
Before the 1920s, women’s role was to take care of their children and take care of their homes. If you were a working woman, then you were not accepted during society, before the 1920s. .However, during the 1920s, this has changed tremendously. After the 19th amendment was ratified and passed into law, the women work rate rose to an all time high. Which gave women the right to vote, gave women some more occupations, and allowed women to graduate from college and enter “white-collar professions.”
The biggest impact on women during the 1920s was the Woman Suffrage Movement. It started when there was a convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, when

a group of people--mostly women, but some men-- went to discuss the problem of women’s rights (History). “Supporters had worked hard to convince the public that, because women were thought to be naturally more pure, more virtuous, and more morally upright than men, they should be allowed to vote so that they could have a good influence on society” (Howes 7). After years and years of fighting for women's rights, on June 4, 1919 the 19th amendment was ratified. And on August 26, 1920 the 19th amendment was signed into law which gave women the right to vote. Winning the right to vote in the ballot box was a big step in the evolution of women’s rights. This was the beginning of a major shift in women’s roles (Howes 8).
Before World War I, women had certain roles in their society. This includes caring for their homes, their children, and allowing men to take charge of society (Howes 78). Women were also limited on what they can do (Howes 52). They couldn’t just go out of the house and find a job wherever they wanted, like men could. However, this changed when World War I started. While men were away during the war, women were the only who could take their jobs.These occupations included industries, factories, and new jobs that were made during this time (Howes 79). But men were not the only one who served in World War I. Women served in the Navy and Marines but they did not fight. Women did take the role of taking care of the wounded soldiers, during World War I, as nurses. There were thousands of nurses during World War I (Reforming). The women who served in World War I help pass the 19th amendment. Without the working women during World War I, it would have been harder and longer to pass the 19th amendment.
“Female participation in the workforce increased in the 1920s” (Bryan). Women who worked during the Progressive Era were normally young and single. This includes widows, divorcees, poor married women, and/or women of color. However, some middle-class married women found jobs as clerical workers (Reforming). Women who did not work during this time was probably off at college. There were some women who were graduating from college and entering “white-collar professions” (Reforming). A “white-collar professions” is when you are a professional doctor, lawyer, journalist, and or a scientist. If you were a professional woman, you either chose or were forced to remain single (Reforming). The reason why it was rare for women to be entering the “white-collar professions” is because these have been jobs normally performed by men. Most middle class married women who did not go to work, or attended college use their creative minds at home and started reading in their homes, which they soon became more intelligent as time passed (Reforming).
In the 1920s, the workforce for women rose to 23.6% which estimated about 8.3 million working women. By the end of the 1920s, that number rose to 27%, which estimated to about 11 million working women (Howes 79). During the 1930s, non-working women started noticing women who actually worked became more financially stable even if they were single or not. Most women worked, but the women who didn’t were the married middle and upper class women. Women were not only working as teachers, social workers, librarians, or in department stores, but some women were elected to political office during the 1920s (Howes 78). “By the end of the decade, more than two hundred women were serving in state legislatures, compared with ten thousand men” (Howes 79).
Even though the amount of working women began to increase, there were some disadvantages. One of those disadvantages was that working women were getting paid below minimum wage and not working enough hours. However, this has changed when the National Consumer League noticed. “The National Consumer League (NCL) was a women-dominated organization that sought to use women’s consumer power to improve working conditions for working-class women” (Reforming). The National Consumer League had a major impact for women who were working during this time. They helped women get paid at least minimum wage and at least an eight hour work day (Rose 303).
During the 1920s, people started to notice settlement houses. “Middle-class reformers, often women, would live in settlement houses and undertake reform work in surrounding neighborhoods. Settlement houses offered middle class women the chance to live in a female-dominated space, independent of familial control” (Reforming). Settlement houses helped nearby neighborhoods by offering healthcare services, childcare services, different types of school classes, and meeting spaces for people in the neighborhood the settlement house was in. Not only did the National Consumer League help women fight for minimum wages, but settlement house workers often tried to convince the state government for these laws too. But settlement house workers also fought for sanitation regulations and workplace safety standards “By 1910, there were more than 400 settlement houses nation-wide” (Reforming). Many people who worked for settlement houses often experienced a high level of friendships with their co-workers.
After the major shift role for women, their first job was as a clerical worker.

But during that same year, they started working in industries, factories, and women who were married, and their husbands who served during the wars that worked as farmers, took charge of their husbands farms. A couple of years later, women started working “white-collar professions”and as bus drivers (Soland 4). During this time, women became really adventurous. They have been watching men for years playing different types of sports, and men telling them that the sports were only for men. However, women never listened. Women started playing handball, soccer, they started swimming, other handball games, and started hockey clubs (Soland 46). Also during this time, track and field, canoeing, kayaking, tennis, and fencing were popular sports for

women.
Women before World War I, had certain roles in society.

They had to take care of their children and their homes. Women got tired of doing that and letting men take over society. They finally stepped up, and accomplished many things during this time. The 19th amendment passed in 1920, which this only started the beginning for women, and a major role change. The National Consumer League fought for minimum wages and eight hour workday for women, and they achieved this goal. It took years, but it was finished. Women were graduating from college and entering “white-collar professions”, and surprising men on what women can do. They started entering sports that men believed only men could do. The 1920s was the year for women, and millions of women made history. And it all started when the 19th amendment was ratified and signed into law. 
Works Cited
Bryan, Dan. “Working and Voting -- Women in the 1920s.” American History USA, 6 Mar. 2012, www.americanhistoryusa.com/working-voting-women-1920s/.
History. “The Fight for Women’s Suffrage.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/womens-history/the-fight-for-womens-suffrage.
Howes, Kelly King., and Julie Carnagie. “The Roaring Twenties Almanac and Primary Sources.” The Roaring Twenties Almanac and Primary Sources, UXL, Detroit, 2006, pp.

7–196.
“Reforming Their World: Women in the Progressive Era.” Women in the Progressive Era, National Women's History Museum , 2007, www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/introwomenprogressive.html.
Rose, Cynthia, editor. “American Decades Primary Sources.” American Decades Primary Sources, Thomson/Gale, Farmington Hills, MI, 2004, pp. 303–305.
Soland, Birgitte. “Becoming Modern: Young Women and the Reconstruction of Womanhood in the 1920s.” Becoming Modern: Young Women and the Reconstruction of Womanhood in the 1920s, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2002, pp. 4–46.