The 1920's was a big change for the American culture. A woman in the 1920's changed drastically. Starting with women's suffrage and the women's party in 1920, the major change in their family and home life, the change in their job and educational opportunities, and last but not least their change in clothing and dress. Women were starting to become independent and free.
Family and home life for women in the 1920's changed with the inventions of electrical appliances. The circumstances of household work were very different than the previous decade. Household appliances reduced time needed for daily chores and basically made life easier. Electric washing machines, irons, stoves, and vacuum cleaners eliminated the need for servants. Until then even middle class women relied on hired help to assist with housework and childcare. Women in this decade were still expected to cook and clean like the women before them. Although the work was done more quickly, the dependence on appliances often placed a larger burden on women. She spent more time and invested more of herself in washing, ironing, and cleaning house. In this decade women spent over sixty hours per week doing housework alone. Even though the women spent so much time doing house hold work a new breed of woman was soon going to sweep, the working woman. .
The war had given women more independence and as soon as they got their freedom their skirt and hemline rose. The overall fashion theme for women changed. "Flappers" wore thin dresses with short sleeves that showed their ankles, and eveningwear might even be sleeveless. They also disregarded their corset. Before the war women's clothing was heavy and awkward but by 1928 they were focused on light and comfortable clothing. In 1913 the average woman used nineteen yards of fabric, however by 1928 only seven yards were needed which made much lighter clothing. Some would say that a more masculine look became popular, including flattened breasts, hips, and bobbed hair.
