Working Class Women In The 1920's Essay

Words: 1599
Pages: 7

Women’s battles for and in jobs in the 1920’s

Women in the 1920’s had to face many challenges. They had to fight for the opportunity to have jobs, faced discrimination while finding jobs and endured sexual harassment after getting a job. They did not work only because they wanted to, but for the first time that they had to was in order to help the household. Women were forced to get a job when their husbands pay got cut, or when they were getting deployed for World War II. Therefore, since all the men were getting sent to World War II someone had to pay the bills, feed the kids and save money for the kid’s education. Not every woman was able to find jobs, they had to meet certain qualification that will be explained throughout this review.
What does the “working class” mean or more precisely the “working class woman- who was in this group? Many just say certain people in the upper or lower class, but back in the 1850-1950s that was not true. When it came to the working class, it was the lower middle class
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Around 1850 is when society first started to notice more women in the workforce. The textile mill in New England appointed 92,000 people to a job there and 61, 333 were women (The Women’s Movement achievements and effects 31). That officially was the first-time society saw a shift in gender roles. The earliest female workers were mostly daughters of the native farmers. “Mill work was generally regarded as a desirable way to persevere young women from the moral perils of idleness” (The Women’s Movement achievements and effects 31). By 1870, there was 70 percent of women who worked in the domestics. The average age was 23, and overall 85 percent were still single and mostly contributed to supports their families and still lived with parents; averaging a pay of $5.25 a week (The Women’s movement achievements and effects 31). As the years went on there seemed to be more of a demand for workers especially in the textile