Department Stores and Urbanization

Department Stores and Urbanization


Picture of a women as a sales clerk
During the 1910's - 20's department stores totally changed the amount of freedom women had. Before then women would be at home doing motherly things like taking care of the kids, cleaning, cooking, and more. But once department stores were booming, the role of the women changed in a way. Women were able to work, get a paycheck, leave the house alone, and were given a sense of freedom. Although they were given this they were not fully given the right to freedom. During urbanization department stores gave women autonomy and a sense of freedom while reinforcing their private sphere.
Women could now spend their time out of the house and shop. Shopping led women to believe they were gaining independence, according to Amy Henderson, “shopping was a declaration of independence.” So women left their homes alone and went to shop. Not only did they just shop but
they also socialized, ate, drank, could drop their children off to a daycare in the shopping area, go to a theatrical show, and so much more. Shopping was a way for women to get out of the house and go for an “adventure” according to William R. Leach. Not only for an adventure but to release the pressures from the home according to Livia Gershon. Shopping gave women the power of having freedom outside of the home in a store.
Although shopping was great and all for women is was not as pretty behind the curtain. Women were given low wages and were most likely not in a managerial position, William R. Leach said, “the low wages and mixed feelings of sale clerks were hidden behind courteous smiles and fashionable clothes or uniforms.” Women were not given the power/right to be in high paying jobs or positions. Women were still stereotyped as the keeper of the home. They even were beginning to say women were “born to shop” according to Kathy L. Peiss. So now instead of women being the mother of the household they were given the position to spend the husband’s money and shop all day.
Represents the separate spheres
Before the early 1900’s there was something called “separate spheres”. According to Jone Johnson Lewis, women were a part of the private sphere and men were the public sphere. The private sphere consisted of homework and socializing, and the public sphere was for economics, politics, and cultural activity. Women were given the right to be a mother and were always dependent until marriage. Jone Johnson Lewis said women were, “aliens in the public sphere.” It was a belief that women belonged in the private sphere and should not be taken out.
Dayton's was another big department store
I began thinking through my research and thought about the setup of the stores. I began to see that the department stores connected with the idea of the separate spheres. The more I thought about it the more I realized women were still in a private sphere, but they did not know it. Erin Blakemore stated in his article that department stores were set up in a home-like fashion so that women would stay longer since they felt safe. In the department stores there were restaurants, child care, performances, furniture, and shopping. When I listed these things I could see how they resemble to a home. The restaurants are like cooking, child care like women taking care of children in their house, performances like watching TV in the 20’s, furniture which is also in a home, and clothing stores which is like having clothes at home. All of the places and things in the stores were things at home. So women left the house to go to another place like a home which was the department stores
The jobs and the freedom given to women made them think that they were finally able to be independent. They were given autonomy by working in the stores. And were given the ability to leave the home. Even though these are great things, there was also a lot of disadvantages to women. They were given lower pay than men and lower ranking jobs. They also were only able to go to another place that was similar to a home. The department stores were manipulating women into
believing that they were given freedom. So by giving women these department stores, it gave them a taste of freedom but still kept them in a private sphere. 
Sources: For Research:

  1. Smithsonian
  2. JSTOR
  3. Daily JSTOR
  4. Albany
  5. Thought Co
  6. History 
For Pictures:

  1. http://image.glamourdaze.com/2013/05/kaufman-Straus-Louseville-1940s-fashion4.jpg
  2. http://www.flatirondistrict.nyc/uploads/ArticleModel/17/image/ladiesmile_900.detail.jpg
  3. https://victualling.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/dempseyposterstamp.jpg
  4. http://athena.uky.edu/kyleidoscope/industrialsocietyky/mergingspheres/msspics/mss005.jpg
  5. https://img.apmcdn.org/a453efa272f24a0045c014ac9ac1b4e269e6e5d0/uncropped/c38454-20110401-daytons.jpg
Primary Source:

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1913-01-19/ed-1/seq-16/#date1=1910&index=0&rows=20&words=Macy+Macys&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1920&proxtext=macys&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Research project

Topic: Something on Department Stores and the change of gender roles. Thesis: During urbanization department stores gave women autonomy and a sense of freedom while reinforcing their private sphere. Possible Subjects: gender roles (autonomy) department stores separate spheres maybe a trap kleptomania what constraints are they enforcing And what did they gain from department stores Possible Sources: http://www.history.com/news/how-19th-century-women-used-department-stores-to-gain-their-freedom http://www.jstor.org/stable/1901758?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=department&searchText=stores&searchText=women&searchText=history&searchText=united&searchText=states&searchText=cities&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3Ffacet_womensstudies-discipline%3Dd29tZW5zc3R1ZGllcy1kaXNjaXBsaW5l%26amp%3BQuery%3Ddepartment%2Bstores%2Bwomen%2Bhistory%2Bunited%2Bstates%2Bcities%26amp%3Bpage%3D1%26amp%3Bfacet_americanstudies-discipline%3DYW1lcml...
Read more

Native American; Poverty

Image
Native American; Poverty           Native American have a very high percent of poverty. Their percentage of poverty is the highest out of any ethnicity in the U.S. according to Pew Research Center.   Not only is their poverty percentage rate very high, so is their unemployment rate. I find this interesting since our class just talked about how from the first books mentioning Indians they described them as lazy. Maybe Native Erik Stegman , there is still 70% of native adults who are under the poverty line. Native Americans being unemployed could relate back to their stereotype. Their poverty and unemployment rate are both high but most have access to education. I thought there could be something wrong with the education. Only 19% do not complete high school and there is a 58% graduation rate, according to Erik.                    The graduation rate is not high, but since there is more peopl...
Read more