Allison Stroman - “Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That August 26, 1973, is designated as ‘Women's Equality Day’, and the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation in commemoration of that day in 1920 on which the women of America were first guaranteed the right to vote. Approved August 16, 1973.” - Joint Resolution for Women’s Equality Day
August 26 marks the anniversary of the day women were given the right to vote. That being said, “[a]s late as 1962, some states still prevented women of color from voting on contrived grounds” and further legislation was finally passed in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to protect Black women’s right to vote. In honor of all the women from many backgrounds who fought for the right to vote and those who continue to fight for equality, join us in exploring Suffragist fashion and women’s empowerment in the fashion industry today.
“The struggle for Women's Suffrage was only the first step toward equality for women. Even though women have made great strides towards equity, diversity, and full inclusion the fight for equal pay continues. While women are paid less than men, women of color are often paid even less. Yet, in virtually every sector of our society, women are significant contributors to enriching life experiences in the United States. Their resolve, innovation, leadership, passion, and compassion have changed the world and continue to inspire future generations of women.” - United States Department in the Interior
During the Suffragist movement, fashion was a powerful tool and common topic in the media at the time. According to the National Park Service, “[t]he politics of dress are the ways that people use clothing to affect how they are perceived and treated” which is key in movements like the Suffragist movement where women were asking the government to change their perception of women’s capabilities and finally allow them to vote. Due to past controversies around what women should and should not wear, suffragists made sure to wear modest and “proper” clothing to help their cause:
“The full-length white dresses presented them as proper and “pure” women, a contrast to the negative caricatures of masculine women in pants that many people associated with the suffrage movement. The long dress adhered to modesty standards and the white represented a maternal and spiritual innocence expected of white, upper-class womanhood.”
Furthermore, this uniform of sorts gave the opportunity for more women to protest together as the attire was not attributed to a particular social class and instead could include women of various means. The white dresses also played a role in the media representation of suffragists. White showed up brightly in the photographs of the time, so a group of women marching all in white was far more eye-catching. To unite everyone marching together, “sashes and membership pins using the colors of various organizations” were worn with the white dresses. Although white is commonly seen as the symbolic dress color from the movement, it only came into prominence in the “late 19th and early 20th centuries” and many women “still marched wearing other colors and their ordinary clothes”.
The suffragists used many national symbols to move their point forward that their fight was for “full citizenship” and not just an immoral game as some men believed:
“The symbols of the United States were important to women’s suffrage efforts from early on. The women sought full citizenship, so these emblems were a natural for getting their point across. Red, white, and blue were used in banners and sashes, and flags were used in literature and events. Stars often appear on all sorts of items related to the movement. Stars represent the states on the flag and also in the suffrage movement. These were often used decoratively or, as the movement progressed might represent states that had given women the vote. In 1919, when Congress sent the amendment granting women the vote to states for ratification, the number of stars had taken on a particular meaning. The stars were used to keep track of the number of states that had ratified what came to be the 19th Amendment. Banners with stars displayed the count until the goal of 36 stars was finally reached.”
Additionally, flowers and other natural elements were powerful tool to unify different groups and differentiate the suffragists from anti-suffragists at protests and demonstrations:
“Iconic emblems were adopted by state associations, such as the bluebird used by the Massachusetts Women Suffrage Association and sunflower used during the effort to gain ratification of the amendment for women suffrage in Kansas. Maine suffragists chose their own golden flower, the jonquil (daffodil) and this year a great many yellow daffodils were grown in Maine to celebrate the centennial. The golden daffodil turned out to be a useful flower as smaller varieties could be worn in the lapel and bouquets might be used in events — available any time of year as florists could easily force them. So towards the end of the battle for the vote in the early 20th century this became the flower of choice. This was partly driven by the use of the red rose as the emblem of the Women’s Anti-Suffrage Association, as seen in this example of sheet music from that society “The Anti-Suffrage Rose.” The song uses an illustration of roses on the cover, and the lyrics pit the rose against the jonquil. Anti-suffragists wore the red rose to events where state ratification was debated. Suffragists found they needed a wearable contrasting symbol and Maine suffragists’ choice of the jonquil provided a solution.”
A large turning point in fashion during the Suffragist movement came when many women were imprisoned and later appeared in their prison uniforms to show how degrading and against social norms the uniforms were. The unwashed, “thin and straight-cut” dresses were completely inappropriate at the time and were “scandalous” especially when compared to the modest attire the suffragists wore at marches. This led to an outcry from members of the public who saw the uniforms as “reflecting negatively on the political system” which reinforced the need for women to have the right to vote:
The way these women dressed made their movement more acceptable since they were modest and socially acceptable. Their attire “combatted the belief that all women in the suffrage movement wanted to overthrow the United States government or force men to take on feminine roles” through its simple, modest, and conforming silhouettes and colors.
Since winning the right to vote, women have continued to fight for equality in the workplace and in their day to day lives with fashion playing a major role, whether that is as what women wear or as an industry with a majority female workforce.
According to Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing, informal workers in the garment and textile industries make up a large and yet invisible workforce. Many of these women work in their homes to keep up with the demands of raising a family and keeping a home place on their shoulders. This means that these women are paying production costs for pennies in return with little to no ability to negotiate the “terms and conditions of their work.” With the drastic and continuous rise in consumption and in brands need for new pieces, factories are looking for cheap, frequently unethical, sources of employment to maintain their production cycle: “Competition at the top of the chain and a race to the bottom on price affect those at the very bottom of the chain most negatively.” Furthermore, without the applicable safety procedures, garment workers working at home are subjected to increased risks including “repetitive strain, dust from cloth pieces and, in the case of some dyes, exposure to poisonous chemicals” which can also impact the other people living with them. With so many women in dire conditions not being recognized, change must come, and it must come swiftly. These women must gain recognition and support to improve their health and quality of life.
Actions to improve these conditions and shift the industry towards safety and livable conditions for all its workers range from signing petitions to researching where we buy our clothes or supporting legal actions on a national and international level. Corporations, organizations, and governments have an important part to play in instating mandatory procedures, reducing the lifelong impacts on workers at all points in the production cycle, and increasing their transparency.
Efforts to change this disturbing reality are prevalent, despite challenges and “the stubbornness of prevailing inequity”. In a report from McKinsey & Co, they stated that “companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams are 21 percent more likely to outperform on profitability and 27 percent more likely to have superior value creation” which presents an enticing incentive for companies to further correct their ways. That being said, the issue does not sit with solely the top executives:
“In 2022, leadership equity is still wanting — and the issues start lower down the corporate food chain. Typically, for every 100 men promoted to manager, only 86 women are promoted. As a result, men tend to outnumber women significantly at the manager level, which means that there are fewer women to promote to higher levels — and this can have an impact on how women treat each other.”
This means that promoting women must start at all levels to increase equality alongside initiatives to increase pay to close pay gaps. Such changes are important at all brands, but luxury brands have a special responsibility as many fast fashion and smaller brands look to the main players in the industry for opinions and trends.
For those who celebrate the anniversary, wearing daffodils or having them in your home or garden is a simple yet meaningful way to remember the women who fought for their right to vote and those who continue to fight for women’s rights. With the election coming up and political tensions high, it is important to remember that we have the power to make change happen though protests and voting. Remembering the rights won through the Suffragist movement is imperative as we reckon with how the political system has failed us and how we as voters and protesters can make politicians really work for us.