Women in the 1920s

Question 1

Give 3 examples of women who had progressed in politics.

Answer 1

• Nellie Taylor Ross - elected Governor of Wyoming in 1925
• Hattie Caraway - elected Senator for Arkansas in 1932
• Frances Perkins - first female cabinet minister in 1933

Question 2

When were women given the vote?

Answer 2

The 19th amendment was passed in 1920.

Question 3

What happened after the 19th amendment was passed?

Answer 3

Many suffrage organisations encouraged women to be active in politics and take advantage of their new-found freedom. (League of Women Voters)

Question 4

What did women’s participation in politics result in on a broader scale?

Answer 4

Both political parties becoming interested in gaining women’s votes and lobbying for some of women’s causes, such as equal rights legislation.

Question 5

What group was established in 1920?

Answer 5

14 women’s rights organisations joined together and formed the Women’s Joint Congressional Committee to lobby more aggressively for federal-level social welfare legislation.

Question 6

What was the WJCC successful in?

Answer 6

Establishing a mother’s pension program for poor women with children, educational and industrial reform, such as child labor laws, and the Shepphard-Towner Act of 1921, which gave federal funds to states for health programs for women and children.

Question 7

Equal rights became the primary focus of which party during the 1920s?

Answer 7

The National Women’s Party (NWP).

Question 8

Which other party lobbied with the NWP in 1924?

Answer 8

The National League of Republican Coloured Women (NLRCW).

Question 9

What did the NWP and NLRCW aim for and how successful were they?

Answer 9

They proposed legislation granting men and women of all races equal rights socially, politically and economically. The bill was not passed, but women did succeed in getting one state-level equal rights bill passed in Wisconsin.

Question 10

How had WW1 provided greater opportunities for women?

Answer 10

Approximately 90,000 served in the US armed forces in Europe. For example, the Navy and Marine Corps enlisted women as clerks, radio electricians, chemists, accountants and nurses.

Question 11

What did women do when the men went to fight?

Answer 11

They worked in jobs traditionally done by men such as heavy industry, engineering works and transport.

Question 12

What did the war prove about the position of women in the workforce? What did this encourage?

Answer 12

The war proved women could do the jobs just as well as men and encouraged greater freedom, especially in social habits such as smoking and drinking in public and going out unchaperoned.

Question 13

Describe the progress in employment for women.

Answer 13

By 1930, 2 million more women were employed than had been 10 years earlier.

Question 14

Describe the Sheppard-Towner Act.

Answer 14

Passed in 1921, it funded healthcare for pregnant women and gave women some control over the clinics it set up.

Question 15

What did women’s jobs tend to be?

Answer 15

Unskilled and low-paid.

• 700,000 women were domestic servants.
• Few female industrialists or managing directors.

Question 16

Describe the effect that education had on women.

Answer 16

Despite the fact that a third of university degrees were awarded to women in 1930, only 4% of university professors were women. Medical schools allocated only 5% of places to women. Consequently, the number of female doctors actually declined in the 1920s.

Question 17

In 1928, what did the League of Women Voters report?

Answer 17

While 145 women held seats in state legislatures, there were only two women among the 435 delegates in the House of Representatives.

Question 18

Describe the wages for women.

Answer 18

Men were still paid a lot more than women for doing the same job. Women received no support from the Supreme Court, which banned all attempts to set minimum wage for women.

Question 19

What did women textile workers do in 1927?

Answer 19

Women textile workers in Tennessee went on strike for better pay but were arrested.

Question 20

How were the flappers criticised?

Answer 20

They were seen as too extreme by many traditional groups, especially in rural areas, with strong disapproval from religious societies.

Question 21

What does historian Lucy Moore (2007) argue?

Answer 21

Most women were expected to give up work when they married.

Question 22

What does historian Michael Parish (1990s) argue?

Answer 22

Even the flappers’ movement was a form of exploitation which reinforced gender stereotypes as women seemed to focus on indulgence and beauty rather than serious issues.

Question 23

What does historian William Leuchtenberg (1950s) argue?

Answer 23

The numbers of women in the workforce and higher education actually diminished during the decade and women had little interest in voting.