Title: Women in the 1920s | NCpedia
Headings: Women in the 1920s in North Carolina
Women in the 1920s in North Carolina
"A New Woman Emerges"
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Content: Working for wages gave women independence, and by 1930 one in four women held a paying job. Despite increasing opportunities in employment and education, and the expanding concept of a “woman’s place,” marriage remained the goal of most young women. Magazine articles and movies encouraged women to believe that their economic security and social status depended on a successful marriage. The majority worked only until they married. Working women became consumers of popular products and fashions. Women who would never tolerate the strong smells and stains of chewing tobacco or cigars began to smoke the new, and relatively clean, mild cigarettes. Cigarettes were advertised to women as a sign of modern sophistication, and the 1920s “flapper ” is usually pictured with a cigarette in her hand. Today the easily recognized image of the flapper symbolizes the 1920s for many people. The flapper—with her short skirts, short hair, noticeable makeup, and fun-loving attitude—represented a new freedom for women. The old restrictions on dress and behavior were being overthrown.