Name:_____________________ Lesson #7: Women’s Liberation – 1920s Date:________________ US History – Unit 9: WWI and Aftermath Aim: On a scale of 1 to 5, to what extent did women become totally free during the 1920s? [1 = not free at all / 5 = totally free] Essential Question: To what extent did World War 1 and the Roaring Twenties expand the national identity? __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Activity #2: Women and American Culture – Document Analysis Directions: An What information does this document reveal about the transformation of women’s lives happening in the Document 1 1920s? Flapper Girls Document 2 Birth Control What information does this document reveal about the transformation of women’s lives happening in the 1920s? Document 3 Equal Rights Amendment What information does this document reveal about the transformation of women’s lives happening in the 1920s? Document 4 Women in the Workplace What information does this document reveal about the transformation of women’s lives happening in the 1920s? Name:_____________________ Lesson #7: Women’s Liberation – 1920s Date:________________ US History – Unit 9: WWI and Aftermath __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Exit Ticket Directions: Use evidence from the lesson to answer the Aim Question below. On a scale of 1 to 5, to what extent did women become totally free during the 1920s? [1 = not free at all / 5 = totally free] Document #1: Flapper Girls th When the 19 Amendment was passed in 1920, the long battle for suffrage was finally over. Women had won the right to vote. As the 1920s roared along, many young women of the age wanted to have fun and explore their newfound freedoms. Flappers were northern, urban, single, young, middle-class women. Many held steady jobs in the changing American economy. The clerking jobs that blossomed in the Gilded Age were more numerous than ever. Increasing phone usage required more and more operators. The consumer-oriented economy of the 1920s saw a burgeoning number of department stores. Women were needed on the sales floor to relate to the most precious customers — other women. But the flapper was not all work and no play. The flapper girl had an unmistakable look. The long hair of Victorian-era women lay on the floors of beauty parlors has young women cut their hair to shoulder length. Hemlines of dresses rose so that a woman’s leg was exposed up to the knee, something that was perceived as promiscuous and overly sexual at the time. The cosmetics industry boomed as women used make-up in large numbers. Flappers bound their chests and wore high heels. Clara Bow, Hollywood’s “It” Girl, captured the flapper image for the nation to see. Many women celebrated the age of the flapper as a female declaration of independence. Experimentation with new looks, jobs, and lifestyles seemed liberating [freeing] compared with the socially silenced woman in the Victorian Age. The flappers chose activities to please themselves, not a father or husband. But critics were quick to elucidate the shortcomings of flapperism. The political agenda embraced by the previous generation was largely ignored until the feminist revival of the 1960s. Many wondered if flappers were expressing themselves or acting like men. Smoking, drinking, and sexual experimentation were characteristic of the modern young woman. Short hair and bound chests added to the effect. One thing was certain: Despite the potential political and social gains or losses, the flappers of the 1920s sure managed to have a good time. Smoking: Before the 1920s, only men smoked cigarettes in public. It was considered “unladylike” to smoke. During the 1920s, however, smoking became a symbol of the female liberation from traditional gender stereotypes. Fashion: Before the 1920s, it was considered extremely promiscuous (i.e. naughty) for women to show even their ankle. During the 1920s, flapper girls became famous for showing off the bottom part of their legs. It was considered a way to display freedom and independence as well as to make the guys go wild. Document #2: Birth Control Movement and Margaret Sanger Margaret Sanger devoted her life to legalizing birth control and making it universally available to women. Born in 1879, Sanger came of age during the heyday of the Comstock Act, a federal statute that criminalized any form of contraceptives [devices that allow for sexual intercourse while preventing pregnancy] (including condoms). Starting in the 1910s, Sanger actively challenged federal and state Comstock Laws to bring birth control information and contraceptive devices to women. Her highest ambition was to find the perfect contraceptive to relieve women from the horrible strain of repeated, unwanted pregnancies. As a young woman, Sanger found work in New York City as a visiting nurse on the Lower East Side. It was there that Sanger saw her personal tragedy writ large in the lives of poor, immigrant women. Lacking effective contraceptives, many women, when faced with another unwanted pregnancy, resorted to five-dollar back-alley abortions. She soon began to shift her attention from nursing to the need for better contraceptives. Sanger began to devote more and more of her time to her mission. In 1914 she coined the term “birth control” and soon began to provide women with information and contraceptives. Arrested in 1915 for sending diaphragms [a type of female contraceptive] through the mail and arrested in 1916 for opening the first birth control clinic in the country, Sanger would not be intimidated by law enforcement or Christian fundamentalists who believed that she was doing illegal and even evil work. In 1921 she founded the American Birth Control League, the precursor to the Planned Parenthood Federation, and spent her next three decades campaigning to bring safe and effective birth control into the American mainstream. In the end, the birth control movement was an expression of the general expansion of women’s independence during the 1920s. By controlling when, how, and by whom they got pregnant, women saw birth control as a way to determine their own future regardless of the wants and desires of their husband or significant other. The growing availability of effective birth control also contributed tremendously to the growing number of couples who were having more sex purely for fun. In the nineteenth century, many married couples only had sex to produce offspring. Now, sex was something to enjoy, for both men and women. Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) Example of Birth Control Advertisement (1924) Document #3: Equal Rights Amendment th When the 19 Amendment was passed in 1920, the long battle for suffrage was finally over. Women had won the right to vote. However, many within the suffrage movement believed that more needed to be done in order to ensure full equality for women. As the 1920s roared on, the long-standing division between two competing conceptions of woman’s freedom – one based on motherhood, the other on individual autonomy and the right to work – now crystallized in the debate over an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution promoted by Alice Paul and the National Women’s Party. This amendment proposed to eliminate all legal distinctions “on account of sex.” In Paul’s opinion, the ERA followed logically from winning the right to vote. Having gained political equality, she insisted, women no longer required special legal protection – they needed equal access to employment [jobs], education, and all other opportunities of citizens. To supporters of mothers’ pensions and laws limiting women’s hours of labor, which the ERA would sweep away, the proposal represented a giant step backward. Apart from the National Women’s Party, every major female organization, from the League of Women Voters to the Women’s Trade Union League, opposed the ERA. In the end, none of these groups achieved success in the 1920s. The ERA campaign failed, as many conservative women as well as a majority of men saw it as a dangerous and radical step toward achieving total equality between the sexes. Text of the Equal Rights Amendment (1923) Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged [limited] by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification. Alice Paul Alice Paul first became an activist fighting for suffrage. After the nineteenth amendment, she continued to fight for women’s rights and equality. Women Protesting the Equal Rights Amendment Many conservative women believed that the ERA would force them to find a job outside the home and destroy the family. Document #4: Women in the Workplace Women began getting even more involved in the workforce throughout the 1920s and there was a growing appeal to work. However, the concept of "pink collar" jobs was introduced into society during this time as well. Society was accepting women into average jobs, however, most assumed that it was necessary for women to work feminine type of positions. These occupations were those such as secretary work or telephone operators. They were also highly underpaid at that time for the amount of work they were doing but equal payment laws weren't yet in effect. Thus it was excusable at the time. The pink collar status was still relevant in post-college level careers as well. At this point in history women had already been accepted as educated and college educated, however career options for women were more focused on education, nursing, fashion, and social work. Still there were some women who found successful careers as lawyers, journalists or doctors however it was difficult and rare for a woman to find these fields as successful as men. Many women through the 1920s managed to work and manage the home, however the majority of women remained in the house as housewives or mothers. This time in society also believed that women should raise children according to how psychiatrists and doctors advise them rather than previous parenting methods. Secretary: This was the most common job for women in the 1920s. Those who chose to work rather than remain as the household wife or mother oftentimes found themselves working in offices or as a secretary. Telephone Operator: Another popular job for young women in the 1920s was a telephone operator. The telephone was a new piece of technology and direct calls from phone to phone was not yet possible. Instead, Americans would call an operator who would answer and then connect the caller to the person receiving the call. Phone companies found that having a delicate female voice transferring calls would provide a better experience for customers. (Fun Fact: Mr. Masterson’s grandmother was a phone operator). School Teacher: In the 1920s, more American women than ever before received a college education. However, since many high paying professional jobs were only open to men (doctor, lawyer), many educated women went into school teaching.
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