Women In The 1920s

Election Day of 1920, was a turning point of American women. A great amount of American women practiced their right to vote for the first time. It took activists and reformers practically an entire millennium to win that right. Although disagreements over tactics threatened to hinder the movement many times, on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified. The 19th amendment enfranchised all American women and declared that they, like men, deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship for the first time in all American History. Despite the fact they were still treated unfairly they then had a voice in public and political affairs. In the language of the founding fathers, they wrote, "We hold these

At the same time, all kinds of reform groups flourished across the U.S. Temperance clubs, religious movements and moral-reform societies, anti-slavery organizations and in many of these groups women played important and significant roles. While this went on, many American women began to argue against the idea that the only “true” woman was a pious, submissive wife and mother concerned wholly with home and family(Barkhorn). All of these funded and stated concepts of what it meant and was expected to be a woman and a citizen in the United

There was also an increase of educational opportunities for women at the time. At that time women were not allowed to attend universities or colleges nor were they allowed to vote because it was believed that women were only meant to be good nannies, housewives and house keeper(Barkhorn). Women's colleges sprouted up all over the country, enrolling young, mainly white middle-class women. Around the time of the 1870’s there were thousands of female students at these institutions of higher education. A decade later, that amount tripled(Staff, H). These women received a liberal education and in their college experiences they found inspirations that motivated them to put their knowledge to work. According to the article, “The Fight for Women’s Suffrage,” written by the History Channel’s authors, many of the college-educated women in the late 19th century never married. Instead, they joined married women to form associations concerned with extending the maternal role into the public sphere. Women wanted to educate young children, institute benefits for the poor, and improve health conditions for women and children(Staff, H). The voluntary associations formed included the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the General Federation of Women's Clubs, numerous settlement houses, and a refreshed suffrage