Log In | Register
From the early days of the woman's rights movement, cartoonists and satirists made fun of the women and their goals. The cartoons, comic images, and postcards depicted here all concern the possibility of women gaining access to elected political offices. These images cover a forty-year period, with similar themes re-occuring over and over again throughout that time. If women gained access to the franchise and political office then all traditional roles would be overturned. Women would take on the worst behaviors of men in politics, becoming sexualized, coarse, and unethical; men would become feminized and domesticated.
Political Cartoons: US Women Who Ran for Political Office Before 1920
Seeded on Sat Feb 4, 2012 10:59 PM EST
- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
- Public Discussion (4)
In the images shown here political women are either parodied as men or as exaggerated women. The "masculine" women are dressed (at least partially), in male clothing, appear in male bodily positions-arms crossed, legs crossed, fists raised, and smoking a cigar or cigarette. Alternatively women have large hairdos, over-sized hats, and extra flounces or ribbons on their clothes. Often the politics or political positions of these overly "feminized" women candidates are trivialized-for example, calling for a reduction in tariffs on Paris gowns, in the 1909 Walter Wellman postcard "The Suffragette for Senatoress." The issues women's rights activists were fighting for: access to the franchise and elected office; equal rights in marriage; access to education and job training, the professions and skilled worked; economic independence, equal rights to, and protection for their children, were often made to appear ridiculous, trivial, and extremist.
- 3 votes
#1 - Sat Feb 4, 2012 11:00 PM ESTThanks a million for the political cartoons. I had no idea of the extent to which women had been involved in the actual political fabric of America. Now I know more than I did before I didn't know.
#2 - Sun Feb 5, 2012 9:58 PM ESTThere were many more who aren't on that page. Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to run for president. The major parties wouldn't accept her candidacy, so she ran in one created by women. The states wouldn't allow her name on the ballot and wouldn't count the votes she received. One political cartoonist nicknamed her "Mrs. Satan" because she advocated for greater marriage, divorce and sexual rights for women.
It's amazing that the same things that were used to try to stop women's rights in that era are still being used today, like the accusations of making men effminate and women too masculinized, women ruling over men, etc. In that respect, not much has changed.
- 1 vote
It's amazing that the same things that were used to try to stop women's rights in that era ...
Quarantining the aspirations, efforts, and accomplishments of women away from the pages of readily available history materials not only ensures that much has not changed, but also ensures that the very obstacles inhibiting change remain.
Female prime ministers such as Golda Meir (Israel), Margaret Thatcher (UK), and Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan) aren't given the same historical considerations today as some of their contemporary colleagues.
As a man, I must acknowledge how man is responsible for obstructing women's rights -- past and present. Until more men attempt to understand this, we will remain ignorant ... and continue to be the major part of the problem.
- 1 vote
You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.
