Women in society

• Women's lives in the 1920s


  • Changes were greater for some than others
  • Middle-class women before WWI were expected to wear restrictive clothes, behave politely, not wear makeup, have relationships strictly controlled, have a chaperone when going out with a boyfriend, not take part in sport or smoke in public, could not vote, expected to be housewives, few paid jobs open to women, most in lower-paid jobs
• Rural America in the 1920s


  • Tight restrictions on women due to traditional attitude of the Churches
• Changes for urban and middle-class women in the 1920s

  1. Women taken into war industries, giving them experience of skilled factory work

  2. Women got the right to vote in all states in 1920

  3. Women shared the liberating effects of the car

  4. Domestic work made easier by new electrical goods
• Younger urban women in the 1920s

  • Traditional rules of behaviour eased
  • Wore more daring clothes
  • Smoked in public and drank with men in public
  • Went out with men in cars without a chaperone
  • Kissed in public
• Flapper


  Woman who wore short dresses and makeup, and smoked in public
• Changes for women's jobs in the 1920s

  1. More women took on jobs, particularly middle-class women

  2. Typically took on jobs created by new industries

  3. 10 million women in jobs in 1929, 24% more than in 1920
• Films and novels exposed women to a much wider range of role models
• The newspaper, magazine and film industries found that sex sold much better than anything else
• Changes were only partial, with a strong conservative element in American society
• Combination of traditional religion and old country values kept most American women in a much more restricted role than young urban women enjoyed
• Women were still paid less than men, even when they did the same job
• Women in no way achieved equality with men in politics, despite being given the vote
• Political parties wanted women's votes, but didn't want women as political candidates as they considered them 'unelectable'
• There was only a handful of women elected by 1929