women's roles 1900-1940s
'Woman's place is in the Home but Home is not contained within the four walls of an individual home. Home is the community.'1 These words, written by Rheta Childe Dorr in 1910, typified the attitude of women during the decades immediately following the turn of the century. The period between 1900 and 1940 was a time of much political, social, and economic change for women in the United States. As Dorr illustrated, many of the fundamental beliefs regarding women remained constant, while their actual roles in the American way of life changed immensely. During this period, women became much more active in politics, a fact best exemplified by their inputs and successes in the Progressive Era. This period was a time of many tumultuous changes for the nation in general such as World War I and the Great Depression. Also, the United States was in the middle of a massive shift from an agricultural nation to an industrial nation during the first few decades of the twentieth century. Each of these factors significantly influenced women's roles in both the family and the work force. Despite the many advances that women made for themselves during these years, they were still not treated equal to men, and to make matters worse, with
By the late 1800s and early 1900s, the growth of industry was creating steadily greater employment opportunities for young women. This was evident in many aspects of American culture of the time. In fact, many manufacturers preferred women as employees because they could be paid less and were more docile. In these stores, the women would gossip and chat in their old language. However, the Great Depression, even though it ushered in the progressivism of the New Deal, dealt a deathblow to women's advancement. This revolutionized women's roles within the home and family. This is perhaps best exemplified by the fact that by 1930, several women had been elected to seats in Congress as well as other positions of political power. For many years the typical job for a black woman was either a domestic servant or else doing some other type of janitorial work. The many national and world events which occurred during the first several decades of the twentieth century strongly impacted the roles of women. Also, there was an incredible amount of discrimination with regards to ethnicity and race. These numbers increased even more with the onset of World War I. First, the women in general were never paid as much as a man with the same qualifications doing the same job. During the Progressive Era, women actually used their stereotype as caring, nurturing creatures to their advantage in order to accomplish many of their goals. There was so much discrimination shown towards any woman who was not white and American born that it at times was almost unbearable. During this era, women pushed for reforms such as child labor laws and programs which would allow for more care for the sick, elderly, poor, and others in need.
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