Polling Station

Pro-female suffrage propaganda postcard depicting a scene outside a 'Polling Station'. In the forefront a Mother tends to her child, flanked by a group of professional and graduate women including a nurse and mayor depicted as valued members of society but denied the vote and, therefore, excluded from the Polling Station. Behind, barring their entry to the polling station is a policeman. Queuing to vote are a number of 'enfranchised' men including an agricultural labourer, industrial and manual workers and a top-hated member of the middle class. The slightly controversial message of the postcard appears to suggest that professional women and graduates deserve the vote more than some enfranchised males and brings the issue of 'class' into the Suffrage debate. This design was published in both poster and postcard format by the Suffrage Atelier.

The Suffrage Atelier was founded in London in February 1909. Its aim was: 'to encourage Artists to forward the Women's Movement, and particularly the Enfranchisement of Women, by means of pictorial publications.'
The Atelier artists specialised in hand-made wooden block prints, stencilling and etchings and produced visually powerful posters and postcards to publicise the pro-suffrage campaign.