Industry, Modernity, and Diversity: A Historical Overview of the Twentieth Century

Americans who lived through the twentiethcentury experienced two world wars, theKorean and Vietnam confl icts, and the greatest economic crisis in our nation’s history. Yet even those major events do not begin to describe the transformations in economics, culture, and politics that entirely reshaped women’s lives. Women moved from being primarily unpaid workers at home to become consumers and wage-earners. Ideas about a woman’s place changed from “ a woman’s place is in the home” to “ a woman’s place is where she chooses it to be.”