We Want the Vote

Picture postcard satirising the votes for women campaign. This postcard was sent to Christabel Pankhurst with the message 'Don't you think you had better sew a button on my shirt' This ironic greeting signed 'Joe' refers to the common accusation that those campaigning for the vote were neglecting their traditional domestic duties of wife and mother. The postcard, like many items satirising the movement, depicts the suffragette as a harridan, a vicious and unwomanly woman. This image of the suffragette was commonly used from c. 1908. That year Votes for Women recalled a meeting in Lewisham at which a heckler observed that if suffragettes were 'better looking' they would be more likely to win the vote. To this the suffragette speaker replied 'If good looks are to be the basis of the franchise many of the gentlemen present would lose their vote, and most decidedly our friend'.