Poster
Rose O’Neill, Together for Home and Family, 1915. Courtesy David O’Neill.
Background
The fight for women’s suffrage was about more than the right to vote. By the end of the 1800s United States society had undergone a rapid shift from agrarian to industrial. This meant that most workers now worked outside their homes in factories or for companies rather than on family farms or for small family businesses. In spite of this shift, the majority of Americans still held the long-standing belief that women’s primary role was to care for their homes and families. But some women were pushing for new opportunities for their sex. They wanted women to be able to go to college, work as teachers and librarians, join clubs and organizations, and vote. This did not mean they thought women should give up caring for their homes and families. They just believed modern women could do both.
But this vision of modern womanhood was only available to women of the middle and upper classes. Most working-class and poor women had to work outside their homes in low-paying jobs just to support their families. They did not have the time or resources to pursue the college education necessary to get higher-paying, well-respected jobs.
About the Resources
Nebraskan artist and activist Rose O’Neill created this poster to support a suffrage amendment to the New York State constitution. After the first New York women’s suffrage bill failed to pass on November 2, 1915, the poster was re-used when the same bill came up for a vote on November 6, 1917. This is why the date on the poster was changed from “Nov. 2” to “Nov. 6.” The suffrage bill passed in 1917, extending the right to vote to all women in New York State.
Rose’s poster captures progressive ideas about womanhood. Not only is the woman figure leading the way forward, she is wearing a flowing, corset-free gown. Like many women’s rights activists in the early 1900s, Rose thought woman deserved greater freedom of movement in their clothing. She wore flowing Ancient Greek-style gowns and velvet robes when she worked.
Vocabulary
- agrarian: A society where the economy is based on farming.
- corset: A close-fitting undergarment for women that shaped the hips, waist, and chest.
- industrial: A society where the economy is based on the mass production of goods in factories.
- suffrage: The right of voting; in this era, suffrage often referred specifically to women’s suffrage, or the right of women to vote.
Discussion Questions
- To what extent does this poster present a vision of new womanhood? To what extent does it promote traditional assumptions about women at home?
- Not all suffragists believed married women belonged at home, but they repeatedly promoted this vision in their materials. Why do you think they did this?
- Who is the audience for this poster and why does that matter?
- This poster was used twice, once in 1915 and again in 1917. What does this tell us about the fight for suffrage and the experiences of suffragists?
Suggested Activities
- Dive deep into pro-suffrage arguments. Analyze this poster in tandem with the document “Women in the Home” and Adella Hunt Logan’s article “Colored Women as Voters.”
- Read an anti-suffragist perspective in “Ballot Not a Panacea for Existing Evils,” and discuss how anti-suffragists might have interpreted this poster.
- For a more comprehensive overview of the development of women’s fashions, compare this resource with any or all of the following resources:
Themes
AMERICAN IDENTITY AND CITIZENSHIP; ACTIVISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE; DOMESTICITY AND FAMILY
