In order to find out what role women played in the post-war period, at first one should consider their position before and during the tragic moments of the history. In the first quarter of the twentieth century, the world was rocked by the World War I. In 1916, the USA joined battlefields. American men headed off to fight for their motherland, leaving behind their homes, wives and children. Household, economy, industry were put in charge to women. At the beginning of the century, a working woman, except for nurses and maids, was something unheard of and with the war broke out they had to change their positions and quickly adapt to the critical situation.
Women, who not only gained new duties but also acquired some privileges, now kept the industrial and financial world. However, as the war came to an end and more soldiers returned home, the pre-war policy re-emerged. Men occupied factories and stocks again, and women took their customary places in kitchens (Voting Rights and Citizenships).
The most significant change in women’s position is connected with a suffrage. A universal campaign for giving a woman the right to vote embraced the USA, but the government was not ready to fulfill their requirements. Nevertheless, an urgent necessity for women to change their position led to establishing the national American Women’s Suffrage Association headed by Carrie Catt. In 1918, right after the WWI women were finally given the right to vote. That right was approved by Woodrow Wilson. This resolution was a lot affected by women’s attitude during the war. The American President said: ‘We have made partners of the women in this war; shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to partnerships of privilege and right?’. It took two years for the law to be ratified as Republicans did not agree to the change. National Women’s Party headed by Alice Paul took action to achieve the goal and, finally, an official ratification of the suffrage was held in 1920 in the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution (Library of Congress).
Thus, during the after-war period a great shift in the American society in relation to women happened due to the military situation and the new role for females concerned with it, on the one hand, and the change in mentality of women, their need to gain equality and ability to develop on par with men – on the other.
Struggle for freedom and equality during the post-war period continued and touched upon social life. As the century began women were not allowed to do anything that contradicts the concept of an ‘exemplary’ woman, i.e. no amusements and all the more work was not appropriate. However, change in one sphere dragged the next change in the other. In the 1920s the idea that women can enjoy themselves, meaning that now they could drink, smoke and have fun gained popularity. Women were able to take up sports and swimming; golf and tennis became the most widespread. Such pleasures of life as make up and sunbathing took firm positions among women again after a long non-fashion period. A tanned skin was no longer an indication of being from the lower class and the necessity to labor outside.
If to compare women from 1920s and the generation of ‘New Women’ before the WWI an immense shift can be observed. The urgency for social reform for women being able to gain education and pursue a career claimed by the older generation seemed boring and unattractive to the younger ones who now had the world of fun and perspectives at their feet.
However, every coin has its reverse. In spite of gained privileges the majority of women preferred to stick to lives, they were familiar with, meaning that they did not take the full advantage of new opportunities. In other words, a small group of women took active actions, gaining rights for females. Another immense part of them was willing to change life for the better but were not yet ready to alter it radically. To put it simply, they were not mentally ready to face a new reality. A sequence school-marriage-home-children remained the same, though women could vote, dress up and enjoy social life. But the difference is that the number of women willing to graduate from college and make a career remained almost at the same level. Gay Collins notes that ‘number of women entering the professions declined, and women professionals were concentrated almost entirely in four areas - teaching, nursing, social work and libraries’ (Collins).
Thus, the WWI and the post-war period contributed greatly to the social changes for women. The Nineteenth Amendment registered the right for them to vote, beginning the movement for gaining full equality between men and women. Accessibility to entertainments and the development of the fashion industry made women feel more confident. They were no longer committed to lifelong ‘staying at the kitchen stove’. Material changes, however, did not cause changes in outlook, proving that women were willing but not ready. The best was yet to come.
Works cited
Gail Collins. ‘America’s Women, 400 years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines’.
Perennial: An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishings, 2004.
Library of Congress. ‘1918-1920: The Fight for Approval of the Suffrage Amendment’. 12
February 2014. <http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/women-protest/history4.html>
Voting Rights and Citizenship Curriculums. ‘Women’s suffrage and WW I'. 12 February.
< http://www1.cuny.edu/portal_ur/content/voting_curriculum/women_suffrage.html>
