Title: American History USA
Headings: Working and Voting -- Women in the 1920s
Working and Voting -- Women in the 1920s
Dan Bryan, March 6 2012
Women voters and the Sheppard-Towner Act
Clerical occupations and the twenties woman
Creative occupations and the twenties woman
Work as a precursor to marriage

Content: In most offices, desks were lined across a central room in rows, with no cubicle walls and often not even a window. Tasks consisted of things like listening to dictations and typing their contents, of creating and updating ledgers, or of creating bills and sending out requests for payment. These jobs supported a great number of young women who had fled the poverty of the countryside. In comparison to mills or farming it was an improvement. However, there was little opportunity for advancement and it was monotonous to the extreme. Creative occupations and the twenties woman
The creative occupations offered the best hope for advancement. The department stores hired women in large numbers, and with skill and intelligence they could work their way up to being designers or buyers. The latter group was entrusted with securing apparel and supply for the major stores, which could include traveling to London or Paris to build connections and fashion knowledge. It was a very lucrative position, if one had the right eye for buying things that sold well. There were also chances in writing, dancing, acting, and in singing -- those brutally competitive fields of the creative mind.