The most predominant change of the twenties was that of women. In the 1920s it was women more than men who began to challenge the old ways of the past. Young women now demanded greater freedom, equality and independence and they quickly embraced the changes in lifestyle and manners that came with the 1920s. The restricted and uncomfortable fashions of the pre-war years gave way to the new styles. Whalebone corsets and elaborate dresses and hats were out. From the mid-1920s the length of these dresses shortened dramatically, much to the distress of the more conservative elements in Australian society. For the first time dresses rose above the knee and, as more leg was exposed silk stockings became an essential part of a lady’s wardrobe. More shocking still was the sight of high-heel shoes. Women began to smoke and drink, to apply make-up in public, to wear their hair short and to go swimming in revealing bathing costumes. Increasing numbers of women also learnt to drive. (SOURCE 3.2 PG 99) Life in the home was also changing for women during the 1920s. The use of electricity made housework much easier and gave women more free time. For those families that could afford them a new range of domestic inventions began to appear, including the electric iron, a range of new cookers and sewing machines, the electric vacuum cleaner, the washing machine aswell as refrigeration had improved with the arrival of the kerosene refrigerator. (SOURCE 3.3 PG 100) However for most Australian women their role in the 1920s remained the traditional one of wife and mother, her time filled in with domestic duties of the home. (SEE SOURCE IN “WOMEN IN THE 1920S BOOKLET, UNDER SEXUAL MORALITY IN THE TWENTIES)
The social changes of the decade brought few real improvements in the position of women in Australian society. The war had not changed their traditional roles. Their contribution to the war effort had been restricted to the areas in which they were expected to serve – nursing, fundraising, knitting socks and other items for the troops, and filling jobs in offices that they were expected to vacate when the men returned. Many Australian women wanted to play active roles but the Australian Government refused to allow women to serve in the armed forces, although some 3000 served overseas as nurses. However, although during World War One women had taken the placeof men in many areas of employment, most women were still employed in traditional female occupations and even though women in the workforce worked the same hours as men, they received lower salaries. In 1928 the average weekly wage for a male was $10.40 but for a female it was only $8.80. In the clothing trade they often worked up to 90 hours a week. Female domestic servants, of whom there were about 150 000 in the early 1900s, usually received board, leftover food and very small weekly wages for working 14 hours a day with only occasional weekends off. At the same time a skilled tradesman earned five times as much as these women. After school many girls completed vocational training courses to allow them to work in offices, shops or in domestic service, but the concept of a carer or lifelong work applied mainly to men. (SOURCE 3.1 PG 98) While protective legislation had abolished some of the worst aspects of the exploitation of women in the workforce, they were still largely confined to the worst paid jobs. However feminists in Australia generally supported protective laws. They demanded equal pay and an end to restrictions on the employment of married women as the main steps in achieving equality in the workplace. Elizabeth Clapham, a Western Australian factory inspector, argued: (SEE SOURCE IN “WOMEN IN THE 1920S UNDER WOMEN IN THE WORKFORCE)
Women’s low wages reflected social attitudes. Women were expected to devote their lives to their families. Most jobs were closed to them. Marriage could be a choice for men but for most women it was an economic necessity. Marriage, however, meant economic dependence on a husband so women had little power in society. Despite this lack of power, several women led the struggle for change. Vida Goldstein (SOURCE 2.10 PG 37) campaigned for women’s rights, running two magazines: the Woman’s sphere (1900-05) and the Woman voter (1909-19) (SOURCE 2.9 PG 37) from 1911 to 1913 she went to Britain and worked with the British women’s suffrage movement. She also stood for election to the senate five times and, although she was unsuccessful, her election campaigns made men and women more aware of inequality. However women had gained the right to vote in all states by 1908 and in the Commonwealth elections in 1902, yet only the Commonwealth and South Australia had conferred the right of women to sit in Parliament along with the right to vote. The last states to allow women to stand for election to Parliament were New South Wales in 1918, Western Australia in 1920, Tasmania in 1921 and Victoria in 1923. It was an achievement then for a woman to be elected to Parliament shortly after gaining this right, but Edith Cowan did this in 1921 when she was elected the member for West Perth. When she took her seat in the western Australian Legislative Assembly she became the first woman to be elected to any Australian Parliament. After this, organizations like the Edith Cowan’s National Council of Women and the Women’s service Guild appeared and had some success in influencing legislation in the 1920s. They also made people aware of “women’s issues” and undoubtedly inspired many women who were not involved in politics with the belief that it was possible to change society in ways that benefited women. (SEE SOURCE 10.13 IN WOMEN IN THE 1920S BOOKLET)
The changes that women brought to Australian society had a divisive impact as factors such as inequality in the workforce and in politics still existed for them. What was ‘normal’ or satisfying for one section of Australian society in the twenties was hardly so for others. There was as much cause for bitterness and grievance in the decade as for optimism and complacency. The twenties brought changes but no solutions to the underlying conflicts that had deepened by the war especially for women as the war had not changed their traditional roles, and even if there was a slight change in traditional roles, not all Australians welcomed this traditional change as many were horrified by what they saw as a decline in manners, values and behaviour.