Roles Of Women In The 1920's

Between the 1920s and the 1950s, women experienced an abundance of change and saw many changes to what was socially acceptable for women to do in those eras. Many women embraced these changes and were very happy about them, while others were fine with life as it was before. Although men were also happy to see women advancing in the modern world. With the exception of some that feared what would happen if women’s social roles changed. There were many aspects to why women’s roles changed but there were three issues that most significantly impacted women’s lives and those were The Women’s Suffrage Movement, World War II, and the “Levittown” Suburbs. Women’s Suffrage has forever changed the lives of every woman after August 18, 1920, when …show more content…
Flappers drank and smoked in public, they embraced their sexuality, they rejected the wearing of corsets and older styles of clothing and embraced the newer styles of the 1920s. Along with all of that many women that referred to themselves as Flappers began to cut their hair short. Long hair was a usually a requirement for women in the past and it was usually put in various intricate updos. However, if they weren’t put up they usually were curled tightly to reflect their femininity. Some women did choose not to cut their hair just because they did like their long hair or because they liked being very feminine. Many women in the 1920s did choose to bob their hair almost as a symbolic breaking of chains from the expectations society had of young women. Mary Garden expressed why she bobbed her hair in an editorial, “Why did I bob my hair? For several reasons. I did it because I wanted to, for one thing; because I found it more becoming; because I felt freer without long, entangling tresses. But above and beyond these several other reasons I had my hair cut short because, to me, it typified a progressive step, in keeping with the inner spirit that animates my whole existence”(Garden). In this statement, it is obvious that some women may have wanted to just cut their hair because it was trendy or they were tired of keeping up their long hair. But other women were trying to make a statement by cutting their hair short. The bobbing of the hair was a big part of why women’s lives were changed because it signified how women were able to challenge and change the social expectations that were imposed on them in years prior. Garden also defined what bobbed hair meant to women in that era; “Bobbed hair belongs to the age of freedom, frankness, and progressiveness”(Garden). This small gesture of women cutting their hair showed others around them