The campaign for the vote was not all stone throwing, picture slashing, placard waving and building burning. Of more importance was the struggle for hearts and minds. This blog will look at the role of the visual arts, pictures, posters and postcards, in the women’s suffrage movement.
Two organisations were at the forefront of this campaign: the Artists’ Suffrage League founded in 1907 by Mary Lowndes and the Suffrage Atelier established by Laurence and Clemence Housman in 1909. The League sought to bring “in an attractive manner before the public eye the long-continued demand for the vote” while the Atelier offered training in arts and crafts for the production of propaganda. Both welcomed men as well as women. Together they produced posters, postcards, Christmas cards and banners for the cause.
Anti-suffragists depicted those campaigning for the vote as unfeminine, hysterical and haters of men. Perhaps the most famous example of anti-suffragist art is ‘A Suffragette’s Home’, published by the National League for Opposing Woman Suffrage. Here a husband returns from a hard day’s work to find his neglected children sobbing and a note from his wife who is attending a votes for women meeting.
Other anti-suffragist images depicted a world of gender roles turned upside down with men undertaking domestic chores and hinting at suffragist lesbianism through the wearing of masculine clothes and porkpie hats.
To counter this imagery, pro-suffrage organisations presented an idealised image of suffragists and suffragettes, stressing their femininity and womanhood.
Images such as ‘Mrs How Martyn Makes Jam’, produced by the Women’s Freedom League, demonstrated that it was possible for a woman to be actively involved with politics and still perform her domestic role, while ‘Mrs Joseph McCabe Bathing Her Baby’ showed that suffragettes were also devoted wives and mothers, with happy, healthy children.
In their processions, which had dress codes, banners sought to re-inforce this message. One in particular celebrated Queen Victoria as Queen AND Mother, proving it was possible for women to play a dual role in society.
Other images produced by the campaign emphasised the public achievements of ordinary women. Accusations that women were hysterical, overly emotional, and incapable of rational thought were countered by images of female graduates and professional women, highlighting women’s intelligence and capabilities. One famous image, produced by the Suffrage Atelier, highlighted what a women could be and still not have the vote: such as mayor, doctor or teacher. This is contrasted with examples of what a man could be and not lose the vote: a convict, lunatic or drunkard.
Pro-suffrage propaganda also exposed the exploitation of women, sought to provoke public outrage with images of force-feeding, called for a living wage for women and stressed how their morals would help build a fairer society for all.
Both sides of the suffrage argument crafted images of women to further their cause. Anti-suffrage campaigners put forward an image of feminists as hysterical, unattractive, and somehow ‘unnatural’ for demanding equal rights – a charge still levelled at women today. Suffrage campaigners represented their members as loving wives and mothers, capable of playing an active, public role.
While it could be argued that by emphasising their femininity, suffrage campaigners were conforming to traditional stereotypes, in doing so they were asserting their right to exist as women in the public sphere.
By Michaela Jones.
Michaela is a PhD researcher and Citizens Project intern at Royal Holloway, University of London.
