20th Century Women - the Rise of Equality for Women

The Rise of Equality for Women

Women have come a long way from being confined by the idealized image society held them to. The routine by which all women must live by with the necessity to only be the housewife, mother, and wife in which they must be cooking, cleaning, washing, and bearing children they have now become bread winners just like the men and can provide for their families if they choose to and not because that is how society sees it. If a woman would like to break out of being the housewife and work then she shall do so!

Women in the work place began with World War I, around 1914. As thousands of men are serving for their country in a war, there was a shortage of men able to work at the factories and jobs that they had left behind. With this shortage, women's roles begin to shift as they are filling in the gaps to help survive and provide for their families as the "main bread winners" are away on duty. These women began by being hired and producing mass amounts of war materials outside their homes and in factories. Change for these women showed them a new world of decent wages and rewarding satisfaction of providing for themselves.

These jobs during World War I were a major step in the door towards equality between gender roles, as women were now the provider for the family. Until World War 1 ended and the husbands and males came home from duty, the women are forced back into home life to resume their jobs as homemakers. A job competition does not ensue because a woman's place was the home while the men continued to do the dirty work and labor outside the home. Not for long though because as the world keeps evolving the women in the country seem to be antsy and a revolution is brewing for these women as they have now seen a new life they can obtain and survive with the courage, power, and endurance to do so.

As women were gaining ground with their independence, some became more outspoken politically. Women's suffrage became a goal for women to be included and help decide what they were going to be given or doing for themselves and their families. If men could do it then women should too. Women have a voice and were using it for the good of their beings and those all around because it affects everyone. Through the National American Women's Suffrage Association, these women began going state to state to campaign for an amendment allowing women to gain the right to vote. Through all the effort, the women eventually succeeded and Wyoming was the first state to accept and allow women to vote in the 1920's.

As America is reeled into joining in on World War 2, in the 1940's, women stepped up on the soap box to show and share that they can work and balance home life yet again. Therefore, getting their entrance to filling in the gaps of men who are out on duty serving their country. These families need all the help that they can