Character Commentary:
I left the shop for a few hours today with Lucy when I met a young girl sitting on the curb and looking gloomily looking at drawing . My curiousity was piqued, and I wanted to see what she was working on. I feel a rush of angst as I take a look. The artist has a great point, but the fact that it is even needs to be made is quite sad for society, and women such as myself. The topic of suffrage is a very important one; as a lady who works in photography, a male dominated profession, there are times where the playing field just does not seem even. Even when customers expect my sisters and I to do business for less than a man would, simply becase we are women, it fills me with rage. If given the voice, women could do anything a man could do in this world. As a business owner, I feel a though I have an excellent grasp of the demands of society, however because of my gender I am not able to vote and make necessary changes. I am grateful that my husband, Lord Watergate, does not treat me as the boy in the photo treats the girl. He respects me and sees me as an equal rather than a subordinate- I am a lucky girl a suppose. I cannot help but think about what Aunt Caroline would have to say about this drawing. I am glad that the younger generation has realized the need for change in this world. I asked the young girl if I could keep this cartoon since it reasonated so strongly within me, and lucky for me, she obliged.
Editorial:
This suffrage cartoon was produced in Chelsea, England, just a few minutes from London. It was created and distributed by the Artists Suffrage League. Founded by female artists who were "goaded by antisuffragism as well as carried forth by the spirit of activism", the league helped women develop a new degree of professionalism (Park). Photography in itself is a work of art, making it very feasible that this is organization that Gertude Lorimer, a strong, working woman, would support. This cartoon is very strategically crafted. For example, their titles in the dialogue are very telling of England's societal values. Jane is given the 'Miss' title, which is appropriate, however Johnnie is given 'Master'. It is a written representation of the inbalanced power dynamic in England. And, of course, the visual respresentation is clear as day, with the boys and girls in the other nations depicted as equals, which is apparently not the case for England. However, the Artists Suffrage League worked resilently alongside the National Union of Womens Suffrage Societies to challenge the lack of equality in educational and employment (Card). New technology enhanced and cheapened color printing (a persumable plus for the Lorimer's business) but also made the Artists' Suffrage League strengthen their advertising and spread their message (Card).
Works Cited:
British Suffrage Cartoon. [Woman's Journal, Boston, Massachusetts] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/rbcmiller002054/>.
Card, Jane. "Seeing the Point: Using Visual Sources to Understand the Arguments for Women's Suffrage." Teaching History, no. 143, 2011, pp. 15-19. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/seeing-point-using-visual-s….
Park, Sowon S. "The First Professional: The Women Writers’ Suffrage League." Modern Language Quarterly 58.2 (1997): 185-200.