The change in attitudes towards women by 1920
Uploaded by pure_essence on Apr 30, 2006
Which of the factors listed below do you think was responsible for changing attitudes towards women by 1920?
a) The campaigning of the Suffragettes
b) Women’s work in WWI
c) Articles and Magazines
d) Women’s increased confidence and assertiveness
All of the above factors played a part in the change in attitude towards women. However, some of them were more important than others; Women’s work in WWII, Articles and Magazines, and the campaigning of the suffragettes, among many other reasons which were also equally important. But the most important and a key factor that links all of them together, was the increase in women’s confidence and assertiveness, without which nearly all of the other factors would not be possible.
Women’s work in World War One is one of the most important reasons to why attitudes changed. While the campaigning of the Suffragettes put across a largely unpopular message, when the war struck in August 1914, strangely enough, all the women who strongly believed in the Suffrage Regime dropped their ideas and campaigns to help the country. This was an excellent turning point; it showed that even if women were individuals and had their own beliefs, own personalities, they were patriotic and were willing to help the government and serve their country. These women were also working-class women which showed that it was not just the upper class that were being considered. This gave their image a considerable boost. The war also helped women to nearly completely show that they weren’t just housewives who had to look pretty and look after their children. Since the men were at war, the women took up their jobs, and supported their families. They proved that they could do the jobs as well as -and much better- than the men. In 1918 The National Employers Federation compared the output of men and women; this showed that in nearly all areas of work, women’s output was better than men’s, for example, in sheet metal quantity produced, they equalled 99% production of the men’s, and the quality was much better. This helped raise their esteem even more- the government saw that they were skilled and had something to prove and were as important to the war effort as the men- the government was a coalition government. There were also many jobs created in this time for women, for example, Florence Nightingale set up a school for nurses in London in 1860 after her experience in the...