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Liberation For Women In The Great Gatsby

667 Words3 Pages

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby develops an illustration of women and their position in society during this time period, based on the characters and events in the novel. As traditional Victorian values were left behind, the 1920s roared with a new era of freedom for women and their roles. Remarkable changes occurred for women in their appearance, jobs, politics, and social expectations. Women stood up, laws were enacted, and attitudes and views gradually changed. The 1920s brought a new found liberation for women that progressively changed their roles in society. After seventy-two years of women in America fighting for suffrage, the Nineteenth Amendment was passed in 1920. This was a huge movement for women politically and it initiated …show more content…

Women engaged in gender specific occupations such as floors of mills, teachers, nurses, and social work. Women also faced opposition in the workforce, since “most Americans believed that women should not work outside the home if their husbands held jobs (Benner 3).” Jobs advanced for women when they “no longer being limited to work as ‘mill girls’ or domestics, these women began to perform clerical work in offices and retail work in shops and department stores (Benner 3).” Women embraced their new-found independence when they began working for their own money instead of relying on their husband’s or parent’s income. Education opportunities and the amount of degrees earned per year also increased for women during this …show more content…

Society’s belief that young women should be proper was rejected as “the number of women between 18 and 20 years old who began smoking cigarettes tripled between 1911 and 1925 (Crossen 2)”. The consumption of alcohol by women rose significantly, which also defied societies expectation of women’s actions, considering this was the time of prohibition. Women began disregarding traditional values of restraint from premarital sex, “stepped up their use of birth control, and in so doing, redefined sex as something to engage in for pleasure rather than procreation (Zeitz 2).” The 1920s brought a new era for women in their roles and rights. Liberations in their appearance, jobs, politics, and expectations from society took place. Attitudes and views gradually changed as people gravitated away from traditional values and accepted change. Women became exceptionally more independent and could make choices for themselves that were not based off of society’s expectations of them. The 1920s brought a new found liberation for women that progressively changed their roles in

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