1.It certainly was appropriate to speak about a “New Woman” in the 1920s. It was so, because of several contributing factors to women’s newfound liberation. In 1920 the long awaited 19th Amendment was ratified and granted women the right to vote. Their new image was also supported by “participation in the workforce, and by experiments with a new sexual morality.”(482) Women were now more involved in politics than ever, more women worked than ever before even after the war, and most important of all women now became party animals. A female sexual revolution took place and gave way to the young girls in skimpy clothes and a need for dancing and drinking also known as the flappers.
2.Women who were active in politics in the 1920s encountered much difficulty in accomplishing their agenda in part due to the success of the suffrage movement. Now that all women had their voting rights they no longer had one big common goal to unite under. Women now divided themselves by class, race, age, ideology and so forth. This split the great political force women once had into smaller and more distinct groups, their power in numbers was now gone.
3.The Great Depression was a terrible time not only for the nation as a whole, but for all of the individuals as well. In the picture on Page 499 a woman is seen in a tent with her two children, the woman seems to be looking off into the distance as if in deep thought. It would not be farfetched to say that she was completely miserable, trying to raise two children during one of the harshest times in American history. Money was incredibly hard to come by, so the mother had to sell off anything of worth to someone just to keep herself and her children alive. Eating frozen vegetables and dead birds shows clearly the despair of the people during that time.
4.The Great Depression was a “heavily gendered experience” because for many years men were the dominant money earners in the family, despite the rising number of women in the workforce. Many men lost their jobs and in turn their “dominant position in the household.”(500) The high rate of unemployment took a large toll on the person lives of many, marriages were strained, fertility rates dropped, and desertion rates rose. It wouldn’t be too out of place to say that men really did get the worst of it, they saw their traditional duties completely erased in the matter of years.
3 comments:
Elias-R#1
I have to say that my favorite part of your blog was when you described women as being party animals. This is a term that anyone would use today to describe a women who goes out and has her fun without any care in the world of what anyone thinks of her. The flapper girl was a indeed a party animal and she was a big factor in changing the way that women would act and dress in later decades. You also did a good job describing how women were divided because of their different political views that they had after they were able to get their right to vote. Once these women reached their primary goal in being able to vote, it became hard for them to vote on the same issues which made it very difficult to pass any agenda. Regarding the image of the women, the fact that her children were so desperate for food that they had to kill birds as a source of food shows that these families had absolutely nothing except each other. I also agree with the fact that men had the worst of it during the Great Depression. As soon as the Great Depression hit the United States, many of these men were out of jobs and could not support their families. Some even decided to take the cowardly way out and commit suicide by jumping off buildings. The hardest part of a man’s life is when his manhood is taken away from him and he feels inferior to the rest of the world.
Reena’s-R#2
I like how Elias liked the part of George’s blog when he mentions women as party animals! I have to agree with both Elias and George that the flapper girl was the “ new thing to be”- the New Woman. The flapper is a great influence for how women are today. The material girl; getting gall the guys, and very nonchalant with her ways. I also agree with George and Alias how women, politically, when reached their goals they became divided and fell apart a bit. Again, I agree with both that it must have been incredibly hard for a man during the Great Depression to not be able to do his role.
George R#2
Hey Elias, I'm glad you liked my blog and upheld most of my views. I'm appreciative of the fact that you added the suicide part of men's experiences during the Great Depression, I must have missed that. As for the "New Women," and in part the "flappers" being party animals...I was trying to make a connection from the past to the present, as in women being free to express themselves in any environment.
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