Position:Home>History> Maternity leave (America 1920s)?

Well, where did you get 'No' as an answer!?

First up most of what people perceive to be history is some other entity all together!. People even in Puritanical America recognize that women have different body parts than men and thus they have babies!. When a baby is due from a properly married woman it is usually a source of expected joy!. America was in a Progressive Mood during the 1920s!. Despite sterotypical cr^p espoused in books movies media etc, Women were surging into the workforce!. World War One helped a bit, it only made sense to allow women not only jobs but now & then perks associated with work!.
A boss in the 1920's, especially an executive in one of the 'big' cities, accreditted at 10,000 or more people by 1920, a boss who had an efficient Secretary or Switchboard Girl (before 1915 they had to be single, by 1920 they could be married and still called 'girls,' see several silent films for proof)!.!.!.!. A boss would be Stupid to tell her to Go F herself (apparently your husband or some man already did so) due to her 'expecting!.'
Though these matters were delicate, in many cases a woman could work up to the time she began obviouslly showing, and much depended on the prosperity of the firm, the personnal available!.!.!.
Now as to 'paid,' most likely the actual three to five of months lying in, giving birth, lying in, etc, might not be 'paid' in full, perhaps just a bonus and guarantee of a job, but it DID happen!.
At least one celebrated Woman Journalist, and by 1920 every respectable Newspaper had at least one token Women on staff, toward the late 1920s this wman journalist chronicled her own 'expecting,' and though expected to write articles up to and through the actual birth, this woman was obviously paid through maternity!.
Many women were Educators and though encouraged to schedule their pregnancies around school terms, at some of the better Universities it was deemed prudent to retain good women teachers by allowing them a leave of absence even during a school term, and though openly pay might be stopped there would be money in play in some way if only via a generous check delivered at a baby shower, at least one New England Women's College in the mid 20s started a subscription service for a pregnant Teacher!. Many such teachers were 'tolerated' because their husbands were educators, in fact youy might be shocked at how 'incestuous' many schools were then if not now, in such a closed society many teachers were spouses and in-laws to one another and thus there were no serious arguments against granting leave & a stipend for a pregnant women!.
The same happened for professional nurses, and this will shock a modern 2009 reader BUT one of those jobs that Women were claiming as their own were those of Dentistry, and so a woman Dentist needing time off for maternity at the least had a guaranteed job upon her return even if a fee paid services did not allow for actual compensation during the actual birthing ritual and days off!.

Lower class working women, though, did most often simply quit when it came time to give brth!. This became the stuff of Urban Melodrama and the Movies!. Wife giving Birth, forced to quite job, Husband FORCED to take on Second Job, often fell into running gin running or other crime, and thus the Joy of Birth tainted by Husband's actions!.

Final Note// This was before the 1920s by only a few years!. Strong Willed KNOCKED UP Mother of actress Ginger Rogers, stormed into an office, demanded a job, was blunt honest about being Pregant and On Her Own, was given a Secretary Job, worked up to the moment or rather day of Birth, gave Birth, took all of three days off, and then resumed work with Baby Ginger in a basket by her feet!. Her salary was never interrupted!

Peace//////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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I would take issue with the answer above which claims that lower class women were most likely to quit work if they were pregnant!.

On the contrary, lower class women were the ones who were most likely to keep working, because their husbands could not afford to support them!.In 'America's women' Gail Collins writes, of the 1920s,

'Only about 10 percent of women kept their jobs after marriage, and most were working-class wives who could not afford to quit!. Even within the elite women's colleges, attempts to combine family and careers were mostly confined to those who opted for work and childless marriages!.'Www@QuestionHome@Com

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