The Twenties The Twenties WomanWoman

13.2 Notes13.2 Notes

Young Women Change the RulesYoung Women Change the Rules

• Involvement in WWI• Changing attitudes

– Urbanization and city culture

• Assertion of independence

• Rejection of traditional values

• Demand for same freedoms as men

FlappersFlappers• Flapper = an emancipated young woman who embraced the new fashions and urban attitudes of the 20s• The Look…

– Close-fitting felt hats– Bright waistless dresses– Hemlines above the knee– Skin colored stockings– Pumps– Strings of beads– Dark colored, short, boyish hairstyles (bobs)

"I had no idea of originating an "I had no idea of originating an American flapper when I first American flapper when I first began to write. I simply took began to write. I simply took girls whom I knew very well girls whom I knew very well

and, because they interested and, because they interested me as unique human beings, I me as unique human beings, I used them for my heroines."used them for my heroines."

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nov. 1923F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nov. 1923

• More assertive attitude

• Smoked cigarettes, drank in public

• Openly talking about sex

• Marriage viewed as equal partnership to an extent

• New dances– Fox trot, tango,

Charleston, shimmy

Double StandardDouble Standard• Media depicted images of

flappers and the “new woman”• Considered “rebellious youths”• Morals loosened only so far• Protests from churches and

schools• Men still “courted” women they

intended to marry• Double standard

– Set of principles granting greater sexual freedom to men than to women

– Women torn between new and old standards

New Work OpportunitiesNew Work Opportunities• Female workers replaced after WWI

– Men = breadwinners

• Women still looked for paid work

– Women’s professions• Teachers, nurses, librarians, secretaries

• 10 million earning wages by 1930

– Earned less than men– Never reached managerial positions– Discriminated against by men

Changing Changing FamiliesFamilies

• Birthrate dropped faster in 1920s– Birth control more available– Clinics opened, info given to

women by doctors

• Technology simplified housework – Ready-made clothes, canned

food, sliced bread

• Greater equality in marriages– Based on love and

companionship– Children in school, not working

in factories