Women's Equality In The 1920s

Superior Essays
It is well known that women have had a hard time breaking through to reach equality in the United States. They have come a long way from the 1900s, but equality has not totally been reached. Women today are strong, independent, and capable of anything men are, but many are hesitant to try one thing that has always been thought of as something for old, white men: investing. Women should not however be afraid of the stock market because many studies have shown that when it comes to investing, women often make more money than men (Long). In the 1920s more jobs opened up for women creating opportunities for them to make money and start saving money on their own. The Great Depression, influential women, and stereotypes have all influenced how …show more content…
In the 1920s leading up to and during the Great Depression women were not paid as much as men, men were thought to be better at working than women and sometimes women were fired just to give jobs to men, but some women left their jobs on their own to give them to men (Newman). Women were fired because the stereotype that men had to take care of their family and work to support them was very strong in the 1900s. For a man to have his wife employed but to have him not employed would be very, very unusual for the 1900s. Men were expected to work, not women (Lange). Organizations like the National Federation of Business called this “an attack on working women and the most serious problem since women fought for the right to vote” (Lange). Leading up to the Great Depression not all women worked, mostly immigrant and minority women looked for jobs. In the 1910s in big cities like Chicago, New York, and Detroit primarily African American women went to seek jobs in factories and female immigrants from southern Europe looked for jobs in garment factories in Eastern cities (Newman). After the Great Depression, in World War II with all the men gone and serving in the war, it gave women another chance to work again. During the Great Depression most women were looked badly upon for working, but they did not want to. During the Great Depression most women did not want to work, but if they did they did it to …show more content…
“In the last thirty years women’s participation in the workforce, in athletics, and in professional education has increased in the US. But gender stereotypes are just as strong today as they were three decades ago in the country, according to a new study.” (Beall). While women are reaching more equality, it is shown that they are not in the right mindset. There are resources to help modern day women investors, such as Women & Co., an organization by Citigroup that gives women access to information about women managing money, careers, and family life. One thing this study did show is that now both genders are responsible for family and individual finances, while thirty years ago this was not so much true. Another resource is SunTrust Bank, which hosts informational events to help give women resources about investing and create an environment that lets women feel comfortable asking questions about investing (Palmer). One modern day stereotype of women in the workplace is emotion. A woman who shows some emotion in the workplace they are thought of as unprofessional, but when women are serious in the workplace they are thought of as cold, or icy (Gourdeau). Another modern day stereotype is when women make a mistake it is taken much more seriously than when men make a mistake (Gourdeau). Lastly another modern day stereotype

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    What it so interesting about the great depression, is that it had both a negative and positive effect on the women in the country. On the negative side, the depression and the hardships that fell on the country during it, halted a lot of the advances women had made in the 1920’s and saw the country fall back on traditional values. A woman’s place was once again expected to be at her home caring for her husband and children. Laws were even passed, stating that only one member of each family could obtain a federal job, and that married women couldn’t work at all. In class, we learned that 85%…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This however changed when World War two happened, being overseas (see map 1), men were no longer available to work, leaving many jobs to be taken on by woman, because men where the ones who went to work, many places had no workers, this put many women in the work force for the…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Throughout history, a woman’s role was to remain in the “kitchen,” or just in the house; a woman’s most significant profession was not a career, especially a career in politics, but the role of being a mother and wife. During the 1800s equity law, based on fairness, allowed women to own property separate from their spouse. Moving along, 1900s there were a plethora of laws that were put in place for example; equal pay act which required equal wages for men and women doing equal work, the Civil Rights Act (prohibition of discrimination against women) and the Presidential Executive Order which prohibited bias against women in hiring by federal government contracts and last but not least women’s suffrage. But it was not until World War II where…

    • 2199 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    History Department, “Some women joined the workforce and would do jobs that men previously had held. These women worked as hard as they could to support their families during this difficult time.” (“Life During the Great Depression”) Families needed extra money in order to survive the depression. Women would hold jobs that men previously had to held to support their families along with the men in the household working.…

    • 1451 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1930's Dirty Thirties

    • 1528 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The women with jobs were the first to be laid off (US History). With all the misfortune of the people and the constant struggle to get…

    • 1528 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many women marched for freedom and equality in the early 1900s, and although many of the immediately pressing problems from that time period have been solved, there is still a lot of inequality in America for different genders and races. While African Americans were working towards gaining the rights that should be granted to any human being, women also decided to revolt against the social injustices that were oppressing them. By the early 1900’s, women began gaining much greater traction in their push for more equal treatment. The percentage of women in college had doubled from 1870 to 1910, and as a result of the greater population of education women increased, so did their ability to fight injustice.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women After Ww2

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages

    A sudden shift in the workforce occurred during and after World War two. As the war gets worse, Americans and the government gets pressured to enter the war even after implementing isolationism but when the Japanese attack the Pearl Harbor everything changes from America 's perspective. It resulted to a dramatic change in the workforce especially when women took almost all responsibilities needed to be done in the society such as taking the jobs of their husband who just left for war. World War two affected many lives around the world but for most American women it benefited them and was sort of a favor because they got a chance to display their skills to society of what they are really made of and to what they can achieve being independent…

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the 1920s the lifestyle of the people was completely different then it is now. Being that women could not vote. Women did not have many rights, they were always treated differently than their male counterparts. Women had been seen as the domestic ¨worker¨ for a long time. Women typically stayed at home and took care of the children.…

    • 1425 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fear In World War Z

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Encyclopedia of the Great Depression states, “Even Women’s colleges formally charged women not to pursue careers after graduation so that their places could be filled by men.” Women were being controlled constantly. No matter the circumstances women found a way to break through this No matter the fear they battled it. The encyclopedia also states, while feminism as a concept was not nourished during the economically tumultuous period, women around the nation did become politically and economically active because of the pressures of the time. Madeline in the end broke through the voodoo curse, and so did women in the 1930s even if it took awhile to get…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ever since the American Revolution women were permanently contained in the home. This idea of women being boxed inside of homes and working at home strung throughout history until the end of The Great Depression. On the other hand, the idea of men consisted of government figures, hard-working laborers, and seem to have high authority. The work difference between men and women was huge, but the ideas of men and women were worse. Women were thought to be weak and seen as people who needed to be taken care of.…

    • 1098 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This is understandable since the whole story is portrayed in a rural area of America. In the novel there are not black women or immigrant from another country, so is hard to comprehend the reality of women during the Great Depression when, according to the article “Women and the Great Depression”, “...Women experienced the Depression differently based on their age, marital status, geographical location, race and ethnicity...”. According to the book “Economic Activity during Boom, Bust, and War” in its chapter nine we can read “...a 1931 study of urban areas indicated that African-American women had unemployment levels two to four times greater than white women”. During the Depression most African-American Women worked on agriculture or domestic service, areas that suffered a lot during the crisis. On the other hand white women who didn’t have to work before, where now competing for jobs previously abandoned as too undesirable to black…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Introduction Long before all the laws that got women to be able to do things like get the right to vote, have high paying jobs or even be able to wear clothing that were above their knees, they had to go through many hardships. Beginning in the late 50’s though, the women began to get irritated with the way society was treating them and the inability for them to get a job and be equal with the men (“Women 's Liberation Movement” 2008 December)). Between the years of 1963 and 1970, there was a movement that some women might say was just as important as the suffrage movement. This was called the women’s liberation movement. This movement is still in some ways still going on, and has been for the past 100 years.…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women have been seen as less of a worker and more of a person who stays home with kids. Less educated in the past and further more less work experience. This bias is still ingrained in many people’s minds. This is most notably seen in the work force and pay gaps that are statistically shown. Woman make less than their male counterpart in every racial category, even with education and social status being the same, women make significantly less money.…

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gender Matters Tillie Olsen 's “I Stand Here Ironing” reflects the characterize prejudice and ethnic perspective of women during the Great Depression the setting of this story reflects that era. The 1930’s was particularly hard on single, divorced , single mothers and minorities “ I was nineteen. It was the pre‐relief, pre‐WPA world of the depression. I would start running as soon as I got off the streetcar, running up the stairs, the place smelling sour, and awake or asleep to startle awake, when she saw me she would break into a clogged weeping that could not be comforted, a weeping I can yet hear” (pg. 271).…

    • 1340 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Men Vs Women In Research

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Many of the fundamental stereotypes we try to abandon, show up in the ways the sexes approach investing. While modern research suggests women are better investors, the ultimate investment strategy strikes a balance between men and women approaches. Investment Horizon By nature, women tend to focus on the future…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays