1900’s and 1910’s: During the Progressive era, women involved themselves in the settlement house movement that Jane Addams started when she created Hull House in 1889, to get into public life. The women’s club movement also began, which created women’s literary clubs where women started talking about social issues. They tried getting involved in social issues like child labor. To fight child labor, they created the Children’s Bureau in 1912, as a part of the Department of Labor. This helped them enter the political field. Women also fought for factory reform and temperance. Florence Kelley became a chief factory inspector for Illinois in order to fight for factory reform. In the 1908 Supreme Court case Muller v. Oregon, the court accepted the constitutionality of laws protecting women workers. This actually gave women more protection in work than men received. The temperance movement was supported by the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, which was founded by Frances Willard. Their actions would eventually lead to the prohibition of alcohol in 1919. This showed that women could lead to social reform.
1920’s: The women’s movement was divided between women who supported World War I and those who did not. Alice Paul founded the National Woman’s Party to go against the war. They performed marches and hunger strikes to protest the war. More women supported the war, however. The National American Woman Suffrage Association supported the war. At this time, President Woodrow Wilson also supported woman suffrage and said it was necessary. In 1917, the states of New York, Michigan, Oklahoma, and South Dakota voted for woman suffrage. The 19th amendment was ratified in 1920 and gave women the right to vote. As men left for war, women took jobs and showed that they could perform the same tasks. In 1920, the Women’s Bureau was created as a part of the Department of Labor. It protected women that were working. The Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act of 1921 also gave free instruction in infant health care for mothers in order to encourage them back to their roles of mothers after the men returned home. For black civil rights, Ida B. Wells led an anti lynching campaign with anti lynching documents that she wrote from 1892 to 1920. Alice Paul's National Woman's party started campaigns in 1923 to add an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution. Also, a birth control movement was started by Margaret Sanger. The Roaring Twenties that followed World War I also brought a sexual revolution to America. Advertisements used women as sexual allure to sell their products. A new image of the woman, called a "flapper", started. Flappers rolled their stockings up, wore more lipstick and makeup, smoked, and used this image to symbolize their independence. They also openly danced to jazz music with male partners.
1920’s: The women’s movement was divided between women who supported World War I and those who did not. Alice Paul founded the National Woman’s Party to go against the war. They performed marches and hunger strikes to protest the war. More women supported the war, however. The National American Woman Suffrage Association supported the war. At this time, President Woodrow Wilson also supported woman suffrage and said it was necessary. In 1917, the states of New York, Michigan, Oklahoma, and South Dakota voted for woman suffrage. The 19th amendment was ratified in 1920 and gave women the right to vote. As men left for war, women took jobs and showed that they could perform the same tasks. In 1920, the Women’s Bureau was created as a part of the Department of Labor. It protected women that were working. The Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act of 1921 also gave free instruction in infant health care for mothers in order to encourage them back to their roles of mothers after the men returned home. For black civil rights, Ida B. Wells led an anti lynching campaign with anti lynching documents that she wrote from 1892 to 1920. Alice Paul's National Woman's party started campaigns in 1923 to add an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution. Also, a birth control movement was started by Margaret Sanger. The Roaring Twenties that followed World War I also brought a sexual revolution to America. Advertisements used women as sexual allure to sell their products. A new image of the woman, called a "flapper", started. Flappers rolled their stockings up, wore more lipstick and makeup, smoked, and used this image to symbolize their independence. They also openly danced to jazz music with male partners.