European women’s day wear in the first half of the 20th century, particularly in the period covering the two major world wars, can be seen to mirror the changing roles of women during that time.
Prior to this period in history, especially during the Victorian era, women had a very traditional role to play in society. If the woman was single then she was to find a job, usually as a nursery school teacher or a cook for a larger household. However as soon as a woman married, she was expected to stay at home and look after her husband and her children if she had any. This role was then reflected in the fashions of the time, for example, women wore corsets and many layers in order to create a pleasing, feminine shape. These clothes had no necessity
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However, this meant that back in England there were hundreds of jobs that needed filling and not enough men to fill them, so the only option was to allow women to take up these roles themselves. This included a variety of roles including roles in agriculture, education, and manufacturing and by the end of 1914 women were allowed to apply to medical school in order to become doctors, an option that had only previously been open to …show more content…
The women who participated in the WLA focused specifically on farming and did all the jobs that were required to make a farm function normally such threshing, ploughing, tractor driving, reclaiming land, and drainage . This was hard and dirty work and so the women wore brown corduroy breeches, brown brogues, fawn knee-length woollen socks, a green V-necked pullover, a fawn shirt and a brown cowboy style hat so that the women were seen as presentable but also to increase mobility and it would not matter if the clothes became dirty or worn. Perhaps the biggest step forward for women’s liberation came in 1919 when women were given the partial right to vote however only women over 30 years old received the vote and only if they were either a member or married to a member of the Local Government Register, a property owner, or a graduate voting in a University constituency . This movement gave women more confidence and may have led to the dramatic decrease in skirt lengths as they rose to mid-calf when previously they had been below the ankles or