A New Woman's Commonplace Book

I look at these women and I see hope. I see hope for the future of my daughters and the lives that they can live. They will not have to be restrained by the burden of gender roles. I pray that my children can have whatever job that they desire and that they can attend any school that they wish. My daughters should not have to only worry about sewing, washing, and looking after the children, like these men in the drawing and like most women of my time. The period of repressed women is over and the movement toward gender equality has already begun. The women’s suffrage movement has been…

I am proud to have seen this picture. If this illustration were published 50 years before, the public would have been shocked and would have not known what to do. The standards that women had to uphold were so strict and restraining. I don’t think I could have survived then. I can’t imagine having to plan my life around the will of my husband and then having to worry about the children I would have to have. I would rather be the woman in this picture. She is so free and does not have a single worry in her head. She could take the pole away from the man with a smile on her face. She is not…

What constitutes a new woman? Would I be considered one? I see a resemblance of myself in this woman. Her carelessness of the need to be so feminine. She does not have to be sitting up perfectly straight at all times. She can be involved with the finances. She does not have to keep her hair in a tight bun or braid. I feel a connection with this woman and know that times are changing. Even the Comedy Theatre is publicly showing the shift in the role of women. We are now authors, artists, and politicians. We are not defined by our households and our husbands. There is no man with this woman…