Women's Groups and Organizations
By rallying together, women orchestrated groups and organizations in the 1920s, thus forging new opportunities, and allowing women to assert their rights, granting new forms of empowerment.
Throughout the age of “prohibition” also known as the 18th Amendment, Americans were divided (Dumeni, 2007). During prohibition:
The manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages were restricted or
illegal. Prohibition was supposed to lower crime and corruption, reduce social problems, lower taxes
needed to support prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America. Instead,
Alcohol became more dangerous to consume; organized crime blossomed; courts and prisons
systems became overloaded; and endemic corruption of police and public officials occurred
("Prohibition," 2009).
Women during this time created the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, believing that promoting Prohibition, or the “Noble Experiment,” would protect families, women and children from the horrors of alcohol and its abuse on society.
Unfortunately, prohibition failed miserably. Although it was illegal to purchase alcohol, it was still readily available at “speakeasies” and other secret drinking areas. Crime rose, jobs were lost, and the economy dropped immensely.
Once the Women’s Christian Temperance Union realized the damage that Prohibition had caused in the United States, they united together to bring it to an end ("Prohibition," 2009).
Along with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, other groups formed to petition for the disarmament and peace movements. Organizations included: the Women’s Trade Union League, General Federation of Women’s clubs, and the League of Women Voters (Dumeni, 2007).
Throughout the age of “prohibition” also known as the 18th Amendment, Americans were divided (Dumeni, 2007). During prohibition:
The manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages were restricted or
illegal. Prohibition was supposed to lower crime and corruption, reduce social problems, lower taxes
needed to support prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America. Instead,
Alcohol became more dangerous to consume; organized crime blossomed; courts and prisons
systems became overloaded; and endemic corruption of police and public officials occurred
("Prohibition," 2009).
Women during this time created the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, believing that promoting Prohibition, or the “Noble Experiment,” would protect families, women and children from the horrors of alcohol and its abuse on society.
Unfortunately, prohibition failed miserably. Although it was illegal to purchase alcohol, it was still readily available at “speakeasies” and other secret drinking areas. Crime rose, jobs were lost, and the economy dropped immensely.
Once the Women’s Christian Temperance Union realized the damage that Prohibition had caused in the United States, they united together to bring it to an end ("Prohibition," 2009).
Along with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, other groups formed to petition for the disarmament and peace movements. Organizations included: the Women’s Trade Union League, General Federation of Women’s clubs, and the League of Women Voters (Dumeni, 2007).