1920 vs. 2020

ALANNAH WILLIAMS

1920 V S 2020

Some things over the years have stayed the same; men are still paid more than women in most sports, winter is the still coldest month and ice cream is still awesome, but many things have undergone very obvious changes. Ways of accessing music, television, and radio all differ drastically

One of the most obvious differences between their world and ours was the standard of gender equality. Back then the world was a very different place for women. In 1920 all women except Aboriginal women were given the right to vote, meaning they had a greater say in how the country was run.

This was really significant, because it meant that men were acknowledging women as having opinions and values of their own. Can you imagine what it would be like to have spent years being, ‘owned’ by your husband, father, or brother? Even those who did acknowledge that women were people in their own right, believed that they should succumb to the will of the dominant male, so it was seen as pointless to allow women to vote in the first place.

In 1921 the University of Carolina accepted and promoted female students and graduates, but there were still restrictions as to what jobs women could be accepted into, and the shifts they could work. It was, for example, illegal for women to work at night, because it would interfere with their running of the household. What was more, women who worked in science and maths were few and far between, and if they entered a male-dominated workplace they tended to be ostracised. In 2020, it has been scientifically proven that while girls learn better in schools with only other girls, boys learn better in co-ed schools.

Nowadays, you wouldn’t see people walking around with fake jewellery dangling from their wrists and neck, and wearing bow ties to every casual occasion. And if somebody proposed that you spend the next three hours playing Tiddledy Winks, they would probably earn some very confused glances in their direction. But this is exactly what people did in the 1920s.

If we teleported back 100 years to a world of radio broadcasts and jitterbug dancing, pulling out your mobile phone and setting it to make strange noises could get you arrested. And if you started complaining about taking the night shift at your work, people would accuse you of breaking the law!

1920 V S 2020

Sport was male-dominated - figure skating, fencing and archery were some of the first sports featured at the modern Olympics, but only men could compete. In 1926, the first women were allowed to compete in the running events, which was a massive step forward. But the tug-of-war left the Olympics before women had a chance to compete in it (how sad).

The technology was also very different; back then, the candlestick phone was considered a revelation, but it couldn’t be taken out of one room, could only call people with other phones like it and was time-consuming to dial. Despite all of this, it stayed in fashion for 28 years, longer than phones are ‘new’ for now. Now all large phone brands, like Apple and Samsung, release at least one new model per year, as well as updating former versions.

Where food is concerned, codfish cakes were all the rage. These included cod fillets, parmesan cheese, butter, egg, grated onion, russet potatoes and bread crumbs.

And when you search up, ‘what is the food trend for 2020’, the first thing that comes up is ‘different types of milk’. We are all familiar with much more than full cream milk: but in addition to soy and almond milk, other varieties and alternatives have/will come out, like coconut milk, rice milk and oat milk.

But here is something, oat milk or otherwise, that we can all relate to. A terrible disease spread throughout the world, forcing people into their homes. It was a disease to which people had no immunity, and to which no effective vaccine could be found. It spread swiftly around the globe until people all over the world were in lockdown, with businesses and schools closed. People only left their houses to collect essential items, and when they did, they were required to wear a mask. Does any of this sound familiar?

Believe it or not, I am not talking about Covid 19. These facts are actually about the Spanish Flu, 1918. So maybe 1920 and 2020 aren’t that different after all.