How did the role of women change in American society before the second world war?
When answering this A Level essay question, it is important not to analyse women as a single homogenous group. Factors such as race, socio-economic position, and family structure should be taken into account to show how although the role of some women changed, overall it was very exclusive in nature.A good place to start is the early suffrage movement of the turn of the 19thcentury. Early suffragists got involved in ‘Civil Society’ (such as reading printed tracts) which gave them access to politics outside of the ballot box. However, this was only available to literate, mostly northern, white women. For a top mark A Level answer, it is worth looking at this further to show how the role of women did not simply follow an upwards trajectory to becoming ‘more equal’ before the Second World War: After the passing of the 15th Amendment, many white suffragists used a racist agenda to further their own cause at the expense of black women, cutting them out of the suffrage movement.World War One did open some opportunities for women, as more jobs became open to them. However, this was not a permanent shift – they vacated the jobs as men returned from war. Pay and working conditions were also never equal between genders, and this continued throughout the 1920s and 30s – being especially bad for minority women, faced with further discrimination even by government under the 'alphabet agencies' of the New Deal. The social side of this ‘exclusive’ change in roles is exemplified by the ‘Flapper’ movement of the 20s. Although access to speakeasies and sex may seem revolutionary, they were only available to young, wealthy, single women able to participate in the ‘consumer revolution’.
