Cartoons Make Fun of Women

This 1897 political cartoon mocked the women's suffrage movement, by showing an image of an imagined future presidential inauguration. The theme is role reversal. A woman is being inaugurated as president -- she is depicted as a suffrage orator. Women look on from the high stands from which the president speaks, including a woman dressed as a judge and others as stern-faced military commanders. Just to the right (from our view) of the new President, a man looks adoringly at her from his seat -- presumably her husband -- and he is holding a baby. Below, more women stand, dressed in military costume and suits. Many of the women depicted wear top hats, though some wave more usual women's hats in the background. A man is shown holding a crying baby. And the "Pluribus Unum" banner shows two fighting birds. Message: women voting will have dire consequences, with women taking over everything, and men relegated to the role of child care.

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• Mocking Women
• Inauguration of the Future
• Suffrage Cartoon: A Female Suffrage Fancy

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