As I was heading back to the shop from one of my daily strolls outside, I picked up a Punch magazine. Once I went upstairs, I sat in the chair by the window and began to flip through the pages. I came across one political cartoon that I especially liked. It was an image of two women, one dressed in a man’s hat and coat, and the other in traditional women’s clothing. I noticed at the bottom of the picture the conversation between the two women and one of their names was Gerty. Since this is my nickname among my sisters and others, I drew a connection. I evaluated the picture further and decided that Gerty, the woman in the man’s hat and coat, was represented as a New Woman. She defied traditional women’s fashion. I consider myself a new woman. Starting a photography business went against everything that society wished for me as a lady. I am used to peculiar looks from customers as they see me and my other sisters owning a shop to support ourselves. The more traditional woman in the cartoon is being judgemental of the other and expressing that she looks like a young man that is so “effeminate.” I think of the judgemental woman in the cartoon representing the traditional women that continually looked down on me in disapproval like my Aunt Caroline that wanted me to focus on marriage and children. Being the more modern woman that I am, I did not seek out marriage nor did I want to be confined to domestic duties. I want to keep this cartoon as a reminder and relation to me as a modern woman that rejects traditional views despite society’s expectations.
Editorial Commentary:
This political cartoon is a representation of the New Woman during the Victorian era. The ‘New Woman’ was an ideal defined by working independent women that rejected domestic duties and the fixation on marriage and children. Punch magazine published multiple cartoons during this time that introduced the New Woman in a series of pictures. Throughout the novella, The Romance of a Shop, by Amy Levy, Gertrude was the model of the New Woman. She, along with her three sisters, started a business which was extremely uncommon for women to do. In fact, when they first expressed their idea to their peers, many people laughed and did not take them seriously or communicated their disapproval. In the political cartoon, the more traditionally dressed woman is being judgemental of the one in the man’s coat and hat. I think Gertrude chose this cartoon because it depicts in a sense what she went through in her life. It was not easy to go against societal norms. This cartoon reveals the New Woman image that Gertrude upheld. The woman, Gerty, in the picture did not see anything wrong with wearing the coat and hat as she expressed “Yes. Don’t you like it?” This commentary breaks down the traditional gender stereotype and expresses Gerty as more masculine. Her wearing the men’s coat could even represent a sense of freedom because men could do as they please while women were viewed as inferior. Gertrude did not conform to societal expectations of marriage, children, and continual housework. She had goals for herself and career and worked hard to achieve them. As a New Woman, she first aspired to be a writer and then went on to open a photography business. I think because Gertrude was content with her life as a New Woman, she would appreciate this cartoon because it represents acceptance of oneself as a New Woman despite the critical society.
Citation:
COLLINS, TRACY J. R. “Athletic Fashion, ‘Punch’, and the Creation of the New Woman.”
Victorian Periodicals Review, vol. 43, no. 3, 2010, pp. 309–335. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/41038818. Accessed 18 Nov. 2020.