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 1929, funding for the Sheppard-Towner Act itself was allowed to lapse. Clerical occupations and the twenties woman
Married women still did not hold jobs in any great numbers, the exception being married black women who were often forced to out of destitution. Among married white women of both native and immigrant backgrounds, only around 10% worked outside of the home. Among single women, there was a huge increase in employment during this era. Certain occupations had always been weighted towards women -- teachers, social workers, nurses, and librarians. And for those who were working-class, textile mills had been the one type of factory where jobs could be found. And on the farm, women helped out in myriad ways, as they traditionally had. But now with the rise of the corporate office, a number of other types of jobs opened up. Typists, filing clerks, stenographers, and even some secretarial roles all became possibilities for the ambitious young woman. In an era with absolutely nothing in the way of mass data storage, entire floors of office buildings were filled with the sound of typewriters and filing drawers.