The New Woman, A Bicyclist?!

The Bicycling craze had an astounding effect on women at the turn
of the century

Francis Willard President of the WCTU, one of the most prominent
women of the times, wrote “How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle”

By 1900, there were more than 10 million bicycles on the road

Cycling made shorter skirts and skipping corsets socially expectable

Also, cycling exemplified the new independent freedoms women
were becoming accustomed to
The New Woman: Strong, Fun,
Independent

Hardier than their predecessors

More active: golf, walking, bicycling

Men enjoyed their company and considered them
sexually liberated

Used their education to better their family & society
Ida Tarbell Vs. Standard Oil

Ida Tarbell was the star investigative reporter from McClure’s
magazine

She became known for her obsessive research and willingness
to go anywhere to follow a lead

She exposed the corruption and greed of John D. Rockefeller
and The Standard Oil Company

Outraged by the immorality of the titans of industry, many
Progressives (included President Theodore Roosevelt) began
campaigning against Trusts

Tarbell was the originator of the tactics of modern investigative
journalism
The New Woman- no longer
peaked in her 20’s

Stage stars like Lillian Russell still drew big crowds in her 50s

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony were more
popular than ever

At 38, Annie Oakley wrote to President McKinley offering to
raise a company of 50 lady sharpshooters to serve in the
Spanish-American war
Women’s Independence

A woman's obedience to her husband stopped
being the thing that defined womanhood

The media praised a woman who refused to vow
to obey during her wedding

Alva Belmont was more famous after her divorce
than before
Beauty Craze


Florence Nightingale Graham became a receptionist in a
beauty parlor

She worked her way up until she could have a shop of her own

Then developed her own products which she marketed under the
name Elizabeth Arden
The most successful beauty entrepreneur was Sarah Breedlove,

She became known as Madame CJ Walker

She developed a lotion that made her hair grow back in

Her success had more to do with her talent for promotion

She enthusiastically promoted her products by the story of her
recovered beauty

But even more so her vision of a brighter future for African American
women
New Women in College

The first female college students in rolled around 1870

10 years later 40,000 women were in college; 1/3 of all
college students

By 1910, 5% of all college age Americans were
enrolled in school and 40% of those were female

Many co-ed and all girl colleges opened up

All girl colleges mimicked the socials and dances of
co-ed schools
Golden Age for the Single Woman

While generations before considered an unmarried woman a
spinster, during the era of the new woman, it was considered a
choice not in undesired fate

Many of the college graduates came out to join social reform
effort's or start careers as teachers, librarians, or social workers

Nearly half of all the female college graduates at the end of the
century had actually chosen career and remained unmarried
New Woman Summary

The “New Woman” at the turn of the Century paved the way for the
Flapper of the 20’s

New women had gained a sense of self-worth that was no longer tied
up in their marriage and family

Education & new career paths for women were major causes of this
new found independence and confidence

This revolution was built upon the path laid by reformers like Jane
Addams, Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells etc.

Women who challenged the expectations of their gender

They built themselves a political life

And were fulfilled striving for social change instead of dedicating
themselves to family