Yesterday's actions effect tomorrow's success

Women made accomplishments that have effected the lives that women today live. For example, because women fOught fiercely during the 1920s for the right to vote and the right for equality in general, women are now treated with more equality than during the 1920s. Many of these women created the stepping stone for militant feminism
which came about later.  Today women have many of the same opportunities that men have and companies can face lawsuits if there is unfair treatment of women in the workplace.
Although the fact that there are laws and amendments created to protect women, it means nothing if there is a sense of sexism. Sexism is wrong and many people believe that. Men will fight next to women today in an effort to promote gender equality everywhere.
Although we still have a long way to go and many places to move forward to, the sexist ideas men held for so long would not be dispelled like the are today nor would there be the opportunities afforded to women today. The amount of women graduating and attending universities throughout the United States is equal or greater than the amount of men at many locations. Women have jobs that formerly only belonged to men. Thank you women who have made life so much easier for me and have given me the right to be equal to men. Thank you for considering me strong. Thank you for being strong. Thank you for believing in something even when it was difficult. Thank you for everything.

What was life like for women in the 20s?

I don't know too many people who were alive during the 20's, so after doing a little research, I will highlight 2 aspects of life for women during the 1920s:

• SPORTS! Women were incredibly atheletic during the age. Playing tennis, golf, etc were all the rage during the 20s. The more money you had, the more down time you had to play the most popular sports that were fun and kept women fit.
• The Flapper: The recently sited flapper was also popular. This woman was nothing like the woman we were accustomed to before the 1920's. She was a smoking, drinking, dancing, immodest, beautiful woman and she knew all of it. She liked to dance and party and was not ashamed to do either. Because the 1920's was an age of rebellion, we see that girls started going out in cars and disobeying parents due to the invention of the automobile. The Flapper was a rebellious women because once she saw her opportunity to take an inch (gaining the right to vote, she commenced taking a mile ( demanding all sorts of equality. )

The most well known quality of the 20's about women is the rebellious, dancing Flapper. Due to how unorthodox she was, often times she was not appreciated by all of society. But by comparison, she is much more conservative than modern dancers and singers.

Later guys,
Micaela 

Prominent Women in the 1920's

There are always and will always be an infinite amount of famous people (or people who do good things) so here are my top 4 favorites and a summary of their work:

1) Mamie Smith: This African American Woman was the first person to record a Blues album. I love her ambition and her nontraditional beauty.

2) Coco Chanel: This French designer produced the first Chanel No. 5 perfume on May 5th, 1921 and later because a famous French Designer. Are you a fan of Chanel perfume or hand bags? Thank Coco. Although she was raised in an orphanage, she learned to sew and eventually began working with a famous designer and ditched him for someone better ;) I like Coco Chanel because of her simplicity of her beauty, her ambition. You can't forget how amazing the invention of that little black dress is!

3) Zelda Fitzgerald (Wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald):


She was the muse of the Jazz Age. Although she was married to one of the most prominent American writers of the 20's, she had a writing career of her own and wrote her own novel Save Me the Waltz. Although she had a nervous break down which crushed her dreams of being a ballerina, she decided to take up writing and painting instead. She is most known for her marriage to F. Scott Fitzgerald. Zelda is prominent because she is the face of the flapper. She signifies all things modern. (In the 1920's of course). I love Zelda because she proved her separation from her husband by writing her own book.

4) Bonnie Parker: Bonnie Elizabeth Parker is known for her infamous crimes and relationship with Clyde Chestnut Barrow. With Clyde, she participated in the Barrow gang and robbed places through out the Great Depression as well as performing other crimes. In this gang she participated in, 9 police officers were killed, banks were robbed as well as many small rural stores. She is one of the most famous female criminals; in 21 months, her team of people killed 13 people and went through the lower half of the United States, robbing several establishments. Before her death in Gibsland, Louisiana in 1934 at the age of 24, she managed to become a popular criminal. Today, we still know of Bonnie and Clyde. I like Bonnie because she managed to become one of the world's most famous criminals in only 24 years! 

How has life changed for women since the 20s?

Although the 1920's is considered to be a decade of change, there is an enormous amount of change that has a occurred pertaining to women since then.

For example, during the 20's it was very difficult for women to get jobs. When women did get jobs, they got jobs that men didn't want or were expected of women such as seamstresses and servants. When they married, they were fired and expected to take care of the home as well as the children they were expected to bare. Now, it is much easier for women to obtain jobs that were previously dominated by men, (i.e doctors, lawyers.) We are also not expected to quit jobs when we marry or have children. Women are barely expected to be solely responsible to take care of homes in modern society.

In the 1920's women earned about 50% of what men did, even when they did the same jobs. Women also earned about $8 a week when they worked over 55 hours weekly. The jobs they did were not physically hard, although they were extremely boring. The jobs were those such as stenographers and sometimes even factory workers. Often times, women were hired in the place of men because employers knew they could pay the women less than they would pay a man. Sexist much? 

Today, although women are still paid less than men (as low as 76% of what a man makes in some positions) companies can be sued for this type of behavior and courts must comply. 

Society in the 20's expected a woman to marry, settle down and be taken care of by a man and do house work for him and nothing else. It is not uncommon to see happily unmarried women today. Women are not expected to submit to the will of their husbands any longer and they can have their own jobs. We are much closer to equality now than we were 90 years ago.

Much love,
Micaela

Life in the 20's for women

The 1920's was one of the most fascinating times in history especially for women.  This video aides in understanding why it was so as well as what life was like for women. A few things that changed life for women during the 20's were: 

• The invention of the automobile 
• The women's rights movement
• Women's suffrage 

Through the invention of the automobile, women started going out more. Women they agreed to a date, they meant to go out on the town, have money spent on them and to be pampered. they were no longer confined to their homes where boys who'd take them on dates would meet families and sip tea while discussing intentions and listening to her play the piano. Due to the invention of the automobile, women became more rebellious and ended up going out to more parties with their beaux, smoked and drank, disregarding (in a sense) learned behavior. They were less modest and more upbeat and irresponsible. Due to this lack of 'modesty' they began showing ankles, shoulders and knees.  

Due to the women's rights movement, women became more independent. They started embracing their rights due to the fact that they had gained suffrage earlier and began to push for equal rights everywhere.They believed they were then going to gain equality.  Give us and inch and we're taking a mile :)

If you want to know more about 1920' life look at books such as:

• The Great Gatsby  by F. Scott Fitzgerald (I'm reading it now! Look for a review on Sunday 1/13/13 at simplylolah.wordpress.com)
• The Beautiful and The Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Day of the Beat by Zane Grey
• Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos 

See you all soon, 

Micaela 

Alice Paul

If there were ever a woman I would do the honor of labeling  "Real G" it would have to be Alice Paul. Born in 1885 and dying in 1977, she was an American women's rights activist. Not only did Alice Paul fight fiercely for women to have the right to vote in the United States, pushing relentlessly for the 19th Amendment to be passed, but she continued fighting for the Equal Rights Amendment. This amendment stated that not only would women be able to vote, but they would hold the same rights as men did in the United States. Considering the fact that women were considered to be maids and child bearers alone, this is a large step toward the equality we state that we want and have in the United States. Aside from fighting for the equal rights of women, Alice Paul established the Women's Party in 1916.
Alice Paul fought relentlessly for the rights of woman, and in doing so was arrested seven times in  England. Of the three times she actually went to jail, she went on hunger strikes in an effort to continue her fight. She was very militant and stubborn; there was no compromise concerning where she stood pertaining to women holding the very same rights as men did.
Although we have not yet reached equality and have not in the past, when Alice Paul died on July 9th of 1977, she died knowing women had the right to vote and were much closer to the equality she spent her time fighting for.

One of my favorite quotes by this phenomenal woman is as follows:
This world crisis came about without women having anything to do with it. If the women of the world had not been excluded from world affairs, things today might have been. 

Thank you, Alice. I hope one day, I will be as great as you

With love, 
Micaela 

The Flapper

 Taken From http://1920swoman.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/a_flapper.jpg

Hello all, 

This is a photo of one of the most prominent styles during the 1920's of the Flapper. This new sort of woman often smoked, drank, partied, and often wore dresses which showed shoulders, elbows, and knees (OH MY!) This is a more feministic sort of woman. Because women had  recently earned the right to vote through the 19th Amendment and she  began to feel her own equality as well as a sense of sassiness. Not only is she beautiful, she is modest ( by today's standards) but she is stepping out of her 'duties' and having fun. Arguably, this is the birth of true feminism: as a whole, women were 'sticking it to the man'