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American Women In The 1920s

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“Roar!” went the 1920s, emerging with automobiles, city life, and flappers. With the close of World War I, America not only breathed a sigh of relief but experienced massive economic and social upheaval. The government withdrew its money from war funds and returned it to big businesses like Ford Motor Company, boosting the national economy. The “Flaming Youth” wildly partied in their desperation to forget wartime hardships and enjoy life to its fullest (Stein, 13). Women, embracing new freedoms such as voting rights and broader career, took it a step further with short dresses, bobbed hair, and openly flirtatious behavior.
The end of World War I produced the aspects of America’s Roaring Twenties. Women who’d occupied male jobs in wartime continued …show more content…

However, upon American soldiers’ return, most women were either fired from their jobs or faced drastic pay cuts. Nevertheless, the 1920s saw female participation in the workforce increasing (Bryan). Other major changes included women’s suffrage in 1920 and a complete overturning of women’s social image throughout the era—including shorter skirts, public smoking, and wild dancing. With the end of WWI, America no longer needed to filter all its money into war efforts. It could once again expend money for industry, restoring to big businesses the control they held during the Gilded Age. With his introduction of the assembly line and eight-hour workday, Henry Ford transformed American industry and augmented the national economy. Ford’s booming automobile industry, credited as being “the single device that produced the decade’s most revolutionary change” (Stein, 8), truly did overturn America’s economy. The prevalence of automobiles, with 23 million owned in America by 1929, spurred growth in related industries such as rubber, glass, nickel, and lead. With the end of the war’s violence also came a change in American youths’ attitude. “In the wake of hyper-emotional patriotism after World War I” (“Roaring Twenties,

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