The Twenties Woman

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The Twenties Woman
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Background

• Historically, women have been considered
  intellectually inferior to men.
• They were seen as major sources of temptation and
  evil.
• Women were also considered naturally weaker than
  men

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THE TWENTIES WOMAN

• After the tumult of World War I, Americans were
  looking for a little fun in the 1920s.
• Many women began to assert their independent,
  reject the values of the 19th century, and demand
  the same freedoms as men.

Chicago 1926
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THE FLAPPER was born

• Challenged the traditional ways.
• Revolution of manners and morals.
• A Flapper was an emancipated young woman who
  embraced the new fashions and urban attitudes.

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Life of a Flapper
The life of a flapper was a lot of fun! It
consisted of constant partying. Flappers smoked
cigarettes and drank alcohol all of which were
unheard of if you were a woman! They lived very
reckless lives and would cling to their
youth. Flappers were the first of the women to
flaunt their sexuality. Their lifestyles were
shown in the way that they dressed and danced.
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Flappers

• These women challenged traditional American
  values.
• Characteristics of a Flapper
• Short, bobbed hair
• Short skirts
• Listened to Jazz music
• Wore makeup
• Drank hard liquor
• Smoked cigarettes
• Treating sex in a more casual manner
• Were opposed to the conventional social and
  sexual norms

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The Flapper Look
Flappers wore heavy make up with scarlet lips and
heavy eye make up. Before the flappers, only
loose women wore make up.
Women tried to look more like men in the
twenties. They would tightly wrap their chest
with strips of cloth to flatten it. They were
trying to look around the age of a 15 year old
boy.
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The Flapper Look
Part Two
The 20s changed the way the world looked at hair
styles. The Bob was the famous hair style that
was everywhere in the 20s.
Most women haircuts were very short in the back
and 20 longer in the front.
The Cloche Hat was a must during the day. This
was a hat that fit snuggly over short hair and
reached the eyebrows.
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Coco Chanel
One of the first women to wear trousers, cut her
hair and reject the corset was Coco Chanel.
Probably the most influential woman in fashion of
the 20th century, Coco Chanel did much to further
the emancipation and freedom of women's fashion.

• she designed flapper fashion
• She propagated loose fitting clothes for women to
  be comfortable.
• Chanel put women into slacks (pants)
• Chanel little black dress a Ford, meaning its
  simplicity and it's potential for an enormous and
  long-lasting success

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Entertainment
Dancing
Dancing was a flappers favorite pastime. They
would dance the Charleston, Black Bottom and the
Shimmy.
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Entertainment
Drinking
Drinking was a favorite pastime of the flappers.
Prohibition was in effect, and the women were
breaking the law. Before this, only men would
drink. The women were seen as Giddy Flappers
due to drunkenness. Many carried a flask, which
was extremely unheard of even for men!
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NEW ROLES FOR WOMEN

• Gave women a taste of the work world.
• Low paying service occupations.
• Made less money than men did doing the same jobs.
• Examples of jobs
• Secretaries
• Teachers
• Telephone operators
• Nurses
• A handful of women broke the old stereotypes by
  doing work once reserved for men, such as flying
  airplanes, driving taxis, and drilling oil wells.

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NEW ROLES FOR WOMEN

• Women were confined to traditional feminine
  fields in the work force.
• The new professional women was the most vivid
  and widely publicized image in the 1920s.
• But in reality, most middle class married women
  remained at home to care for their children.

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Education

• By 1928, women were earning 39 of the college
  degrees given in the United States.
• It had risen from the original 19 it was at the
  beginning of the century.
• Example
• In 1926, Sarah Lawrence College was founded as an
  all girls school

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THE CHANGING AMERICAN FAMILY

• American birthrates declined for several
  decades before the 1920s.
• Trend continues in 1920s with development of
  birth control.
• Margaret Sanger
• Birth control activist
• Founder of American Birth Control League
• ie. Planned Parenthood

Margaret Sanger and other founders of the
American Birth Control League - 1921
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Margaret Sanger

• In 1921, she founded the American Birth Control
  League (ABCL)
• Today known as Planned Parenthood
• In 1923, she established the Clinical Research
  Bureau.
• The first legal birth control clinic in the U.S.
• Women were then able to control their own bodies.
• This movement educated women about existing
  birth control methods.
• A 1936, a Supreme Court decision declassified
  birth control information as obscene.

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MODERN Family EMERGES

• Marriage was based on romantic love.
• Women managed the household and finances.
• Children were not considered laborers/ wage
  earners anymore.
• Seen as developing children who needed nurturing
  and education

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19th Amendment

• The right of citizens of the United States to
  vote shall not be denied or abridged by the
  United States or by any State on account of sex.
  Congress shall have power to enforce this article
  by appropriate legislation.
• It was ratified on August 18th, 1920.

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Alice Paul

• She was the head of National Womens Party.
• Felt that the 19th Amendment wasnt enough.
• (Pushed for an Equal Rights Amendment to be added
  to the constitution)
• Double Standard-a set of principles granting
  greater sexual freedom to men than to women

January 11th, 1885- July 9th, 1977
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The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

• Men and women shall have equal rights
  throughout the United States and every place
  subject to its jurisdiction.
• It was first introduced to Congress in 1923.
• Made all forms of discrimination based on sex
  illegal.
• Never passed in Congress.

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The End