American Women In The 1920s Essay

The outbreak of World War I resulted in more than mere casualties. As men left their jobs to go into the service, women were needed to "step up to the plate." For the first time, women were called upon to fill factory assembly line positions. With the war' conclusion in 1918, the United States emerged strong and prosperous. Women had aided in this accomplishment, and they began to embody the new era's lighthearted attitude. The end of World War I eased American's into a spirit of hope and newness. The year 1919 also proved a landmark in women's history in the United States. It was in this year that Congress approved the Nineteenth Amendment, which forbade discrimination against voters according to their sex. (Funk and Wagnall's A new era, characterized by greater freedoms, had begun for American women. "The New Woman" was carefree, bare-armed, and often appalling to the older generation.

Style in the 1920s reflected drastic changes in the perception of what was "proper." In the previous Victorian era, the style for women resembled that of an hourglass. Twenty-five pound restricting corsets were used to create this shape. The 1920s shape was strikingly different, defined by straight lines and flat chests. The
formerly used corsets restricted breathing and limited the woman to domestic affairs. The flapper of the 1920s was corsetless, bare-armed, short skirted and did away with her Victorian style hair by "bobbing," or cutting it. She was emerging from the confinement of the home. (Deutsch)

Women in the 1920s viewed themselves as "pals" to their male friends and husbands.
They wanted to be out in the world with them rather than confined to the home. They wanted freedom from past restrictions. It was in the 1920s that it became fashionable for women to frequent the nightclubs, drink at speakeasies, shimmy to the jazz music, and smoke cigarettes in public. Zelda Fitzgerald described it perfectly, "I think a woman gets more happiness out of being gay, light hearted, unconventional, mistress of her own fate than out of a career that calls for hard work, intellectual pessimism and loneliness" (Collins 329). Not only did women want the right to vote like their men, they wanted to participate in the leisure of the times with
them.

The standard for women's behavior lowered as she engaged in the nightlife of the workingman. The combination of frisky nightclubs and dancing without the barrier of the corset yielded a dramatic increase in sexual familiarity. Sexual promiscuity soared in the 1920s with the coining of the terms "petting" and "necking." These inappropriate and sinful displays of affection were perceived with much horror by the former generation. Needless to say, a cultural rift grew between the youth and the older generations.

Ultimately, the 1920s set a new precedent for women in the United States. The "new woman" generated by this era continues to develop. Both scandalous fashion and conformative behavior are factors in women's culture today. Although this movement brought increasing equality and a seemingly carefree spirit, was the woman's perception of herself truly bettered by it? Were her roles as a woman jeopardized by this lax sense of morality?

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