Was it great to be a woman in the 1930s?
and other news
Hello friends,
I’ve been happily diving into one of my favourite eras - the 1920s and 1930s. I find myself getting sidetracked by newspaper and magazine advertisements as I research the story of two young sportswomen from Sydney, Australia. Despite The Depression, the period between the wars was clearly a wonderful time for women. Yet reading some of my grandmother’s 1930s knitting magazines filled me with the sense of pressure that was incumbent on all woman: to be good mothers, to look beautiful, to do everything possible not to age or at least appear old. So I’ve clipped a few different advertisements to share with you.
The Ladye Jayne (sic) Adjustable Slumber Helmut modelled above by actress Pat Kirkwood, was a modern twist on the hairnet. Both my grandmother and my mother wore hairnets to sleep. My daughter uses old T shirts. I don’t use a hairnet or anything. Maybe that’s the problem 😊 ?!!
Below is an advertisement extolling an early example of that ‘half-head test’, remember like they used to show in those dandruff shampoos on TV? I do love the use of the term ‘scientific’ and the one-third proven additional lustre.
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Then there are a whole host of cure-alls and remedies like salts. Kruschen Salts was a British product sold globally and very much a household name in Australia until the 1950s. Though the ad below is allegedly a letter from a happy family, the company’s advertisements frequently targeted women:
MERRY, pretty, bright-eyed; temper and charm personified. What a contrast to the soured, shrivelled, cheerless woman of forty whom we all know. What a contrast! And the reason?
Just good health! Cheerfulness, merry eyes, a kindly nature —all these could be the priceless possession of nearly all women if they had health, because these are the signs of health far more than of temperament. The soured temperament is more often the result of poor health than anything else-and health can be restored.
It is lack of vigorous health that steals colour from the check, writes lines round your eyes, robs you of cheerfulness and energy.
Drive out impurities and send fresh, clear blood coursing through your veins to every fibre of the system, and you will look young and feel young-at any age.
And then there was a range of ads for products which talk about how poor health ruins a woman’s looks:
After reading all of those, I feel I need to sit down and have a second coffee. I suggest you do the same! Actually, make mine a coffee martini.
By the way friends, if you haven’t already signed up for it, the sixth and final episode in the Forget Me Not Series with author Ailsa Piper is coming up on Wednesday 19 March 2025 in Australia (Tuesday 18 March in the US). Please join us for a warm and soulful finale to the series. The series is a collaboration with
It’s free but registration is required.
And finally, if you didn’t catch this week’s episode on the craft of obituary-writing, I had leading obituary writer James R. (Bob) Hagerty as my guest.
If you are interested in anything I’ve mentioned or created for this post, please reach out. Or just say hello.
Oh to be a woman in the 1930’s - not! What an interesting article, but are we really any better off today with the pressure to not go grey or to go grey but look like a goddess? To have fake nails? Fake eyelashes? Fake tans? To be a free spirit, to be creative, to be toned, to have 2.5 children, a dog, a career, a mortgage, a designer home and garden. Men might have put expectations on us in the past, is it still them or do we do this to ourselves. There is way too much pressure these days. Ladies we need to just love ourselves and breathe❤️
Thanks Jane I love reading your emails always very insightful. I think there is still the pressure on women on so many fronts. Work, don't work, cook like a chef, exercise, eat well, dye your hair, don't dye your hair and the forever anti ageing creams. I find those ad's extremely amusing as ageing is inevitable for all of us.