WW1 + Women

• WW1

  WW1 - 1914
• Isolationism

  America avoided European war. Many politicians believed getting involved in Europe's quarrel will cause a foreign war and cost the lives of American soldiers.
• Benefits of Isolationism

  America prospered financially loaning out money to Britain and selling weapons, equipment and food.

  Demand for weapons and equipment increased which caused more jobs. This meant that people got very rich.
• Women After WW1

  1917 - America joined the war and large numbers of men went away to fight - women began to take over jobs
• Women after WW1

  Earning money gave them independence - they no longer relied on their husbands wealth

  As a result america gave women the right to vote in 1920
• Women after WW1

  By 1929 there were around 10.5 million employed women which was 25 percent more than in 1920
• Women after WW1

  Money - women could make their own decisions about how they lived

  They could live on their own and were less likely to stay in unhappy marriages - divorce rate doubled in the 1920s
• Women after WW1

  Women wore more revealing clothes, went on dates without a chaperone and drank in public
• Flappers

  Commonly sighted in American Cities

  Rode motorbikes

  Wore short skirts

  Went to nightclubs

  Went out without a chaperone
• Flappers

  They shocked traditional members of the USA - some Americans formed an Anti-Flirt League to protest against flappers
• Flappers

  Older Americans in rural areas saw flappers as an example of the evils of modern life.

  They felt that family life, religion and traditional values were under threat
• Flappers

  Florida University said that short skirts of flappers 'are born of the devil and are carrying the present generation to destruction'