Gender Roles
In a typical 1920s household, the husband and wife had specific roles in taking care of the family. As a result of the strengthening economy and growth of respectable jobs for men, the father began to be considered the breadwinner of the family and he started to spend more time independent from the home. Additionally, the male was considered the head of the family and had the final say in decisions. Alternately, the woman was given the household duties: cooking, cleaning, taking care of the children, but for the first time, they began to challenge their role as the submissive housewife not only by dressing and speaking independently but getting jobs in the workplace as well.
Despite the restricting roles of men and women, the 1920's did leave some hope for the future. Children were also treated differently; instead of solely being trained in the skills they would need to perform the gender-segregated tasks expected of them as adults, they were educated indiscriminately, giving the girls a bigger opportunity to get jobs and understand more about the government than their predecessors, creating the potential for increased women involvement in society. |
women working
A major change in 1920 was that more and more women started to work, even after they were married. Single women saw a huge increase in employment. Typically they were limited to the jobs of teachers, social workers, nurses, and librarians. However, other types of jobs began to open up as a result of new technology and factories.
The infographics above compares the amount of married and other women in different kinds of occupations. Surprisingly, the most women were employed in agriculture than in any other occupation.
new home technology
In the 1920's, new home technology such as the refrigerator and the vacuum was introduced. These inventions lifted some of the burdens that women experienced with home duties, allowing them to devote more time to other things, such as politics, or even a job. Some examples are the:
- refrigerator
- washing machine
- vacuum cleaner
- hair dryer
- bread slicer
- electric iron
- electric toaster
- electric waffle iron
- refrigerator
- washing machine
- vacuum cleaner
- hair dryer
- bread slicer
- electric iron
- electric toaster
- electric waffle iron