Society and Cultural Change 1917-1980

Society and Cultural Change 1917-1980

How Significantly did the Position of Women Change 1917-1980

Roaring Twenties 1914-1940

• The First World War gave women the opportunity to work and in 1920 the 18th Ammendment gave women the same rights to vote as men.
• The 1920s saw an economic boom in America and was thus known as the roaring twenties.  Women were given some limited working opportunities in this time
• In 1920 a Women Bureau of Labour was set up to encourage women to work and to improve women's working rights.  Between 1910-1940 the percentage of women in work increased from 8% to around 10%.
• Young women known as 'Flappers' behaved like young men drinking and dressing inappropriatly, they shifted public perceptions of women but were only a very small % of rich white women so did not have a massive impact.
• The Great Depression did not effect people due to gender but more based on class.  The womens bueau was mostly ignored due to its focused on women.  Some women saw it as hindering progress rather than helping progress when it agreed with legislature that reduced womens working hours to 10 hours a day and when it pushed for a minimum wage for women.
• The Great Depression did increase the number of women in work as they needed to support there husbands and families.
• The New Deal focussed mostly on men first.  Civilian Concervation Corps employed young men but did not provide for women until 1936 and still then they were more limited. …