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Print, Protest & the Polls: Suffrage Opposition and Promotion in Print
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At a time when women had no voice in politics, print allowed women to have a voice in the public sphere with which to campaign for change. Irish suffragists produced posters, handbills, booklets, imagery, and written articles which publicised their requests for equal voting rights to men. This helped to counter the prolific negative imagery and messages which opposed and mocked the suffragists and their aims.
The introduction and overview page for the Print, Protest & the Polls exhibition is here.
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Anti-Suffrage Sentiment in Print
On a wider international scale, women involved in the suffrage movement were publicly represented in largely negative or mocking views. Visual humour played a prominent role in both the suffrage and anti-suffrage imagery. Cartoons could serve to present women’s suffrage in both a sympathetic or critical and lampooning manner, depending on the publication or artist which had produced them. The most commonly produced images showed suffrage campaigners in uncomplimentary depictions. Imagery mainly focused on the “suffragette” – the female campaigners involved in militant political activity, such as window breaking and postbox attacks. These visual representations show the suffragette as a wild, masculine, and dangerous entity – demonstrating the contemporary public fear and anxiety of female political independence.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/2" el_id="antiSuffrageSlider"][vc_gallery interval="5" images="10959,10958,10957,10293" img_size="large" show_image_description="yes"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="grid" in_content_menu="in_content_menu" content_menu_icon="" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern" z_index="" el_class="vc_rowSummer2021" css=".vc_custom_1628928273715{padding-bottom: 30px !important;}" anchor="change" content_menu_title="Changing perceptions"][vc_column width="1/4" el_class="topAligned background_fff"][vc_empty_space height="20px"][vc_column_text el_class="titleColourNPM"]
Changing Public Perceptions with Print
Irish suffragists used all facets of print media to help promote their demand for equal franchise, as well as to help foster a positive public image of the female campaigners. At a time when women had no voice in politics, print allowed women to have a voice in the public sphere with which to campaign for change. Irish suffragists produced posters, handbills, booklets, imagery, and written articles which publicised their requests for equal voting rights to men.
