Women's Equality Day GiftsInspiration from History = Amazing Gifts for Women
Looking for an unusual, exceptional gift idea for her?
Women activists were called "suffragettes" which is derived from the word, "suffrage" meaning "right to vote". I've included links here to some really neat places to find unusual gifts that celebrate women winning the right to vote.
CafePress has a nice collection of t-shirts, mugs, mousepads buttons, and bags with a
suffragette theme.
Suffragette Artists
During the time of women's suffrage in American and England, several artists rose to prominence as they designed original artwork related to the movement. Nina Evans Allender (1872-1957) was a longtime member of the American National Woman's Party who studied art at the Corcoran School of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and with Robert Henri, William Merritt Chase, and impressionist Frank Brangwyn. She contributed over 250 cartoons to the suffrage campaign, mostly original drawings created for The Suffragist, the weekly publication of the National Woman's Party. She created a suffragist image (soon called the "Allender Girl"), who was young, slender, and energetic -- a capable woman with an intense commitment to the cause. Allender used her illustrations to present a spectrum of women: feminist, wife, mother, student, and activist. Source: Sewall-Belmont House website Looking for a way to turn suffragette artwork into gift? The Sewall-Belmont museum in Washington D.C. has a unusual program called the "Adopt-a-Allender" program.
Mary Lowndes (1856 – 1929) was an important stained-glass, banner, and poster artist, and an active member of the British Suffragette movement. She was a leader in the Arts and Crafts Movement and Chair of the Artists Suffrage League (ASL). Her work included dramatic posters, humorous postcards, Christmas cards, and banners for suffrage events, and is currently on display at the The Women's Library in London, England. Lowndes often depicted animals in her drawings, especially cats, to encourage, endear and amuse viewers with the cause.
Ernestine Mills (1871-1959) was an artist specializing in beautiful enamel work. She was active in the British women’s struggle for the vote, and used her art for the Suffragette movement, and designed badges in the Suffragette colours, purple, white and green. In 1901 she became a member of the British Society of Women Artists, and, long afterwards, in 1943-4, served as its Acting President. Ernestine first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1900, she had the distinction of exhibiting at the prestigious Walker Gallery in Liverpool no less than sixty-one times. The pendant show here was a gift to suffragette Louise Eates who was sentenced to a month's imprisonment in March 1909 for taking part in a deputation to parliament. The pendant's silver enamelling represents the winged figure of Hope singing outside the prison bars. It is attached to a chain containing purple, white and green stones, the suffragette colours.
Colors of Women's Suffrage
Looking for the right color gift-wrapping paper to give your gift? If you choose purple, white, or green, you'll be echoing the authentic colors chosen by women to symbolize the movement. A nice touch. The color scheme was created by British suffragette Mrs. Pethick-Lawrence, treasurer and co-editor of the weekly newspaper Votes for Women. In the spring 1908 issue of that paper, Pethick-Lawrence explained the symbolism of the colors: "Purple as everyone knows is the royal colour. It stands for the royal blood that flows in the veins of every suffragette, the instinct of freedom and dignity ...white stands for purity in private and public life ...green is the colour of hope and the emblem of spring ...the colours enable us to make that appeal to the eye which is so irresistible. The result of our processions is that this movement becomes identified in the mind of the onlooker with colour, gay sound, movement, and beauty." Pethick-Lawrence announced that they had "several hundred banners in purple, white, and green. The effect will be lost unless the colours are carried in the dress of every woman in the ranks." In the United States gold and yellow were used, and they later became combined with purple and white from the British movement. "Colors were important in the iconography of the suffrage movement. The use of the color gold began with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony's campaign in Kansas in 1867 and derived from the color of the sunflower, the Kansas state symbol. Suffragists used gold pins, ribbons, sashes, and yellow roses to symbolize their cause. In 1876, during the U.S. Centennial, women wore yellow ribbons and sang the song "The Yellow Ribbon." In 1916, suffragists staged "The Golden Lane" and the national Democratic convention; to reach the convention hall, all delegates had to walk through a line of women stretching several blocks long, dressed in white with gold sashes, carrying yellow umbrellas, and accompanied by hundreds of yards of draped gold bunting. Gold also signified enlightment, the professed goal of the mainstream U.S. suffrage movement. A second color theme was the use of the tricolors purple, white, and gold. These colors originated with the Women's Suffrage and Political Union in England; symbolizing loyalty, purity, and hope, they were brought to the U.S. by women who had worked in the British suffrage movement. The purple, white, and gold of the modern women's movement have their origins with the NWP. The nearly 100,000 women who marched in Washington, D.C. in 1978, in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, wore white, with pins, sashes, and ribbons of green, purple, and gold. Green and white are the colors of the National Organization for Women." Source: Amazons, Bluestockings and Crones: A Feminist Dictionary edited by Cheris Kramarae & Paula A. Treichler
Discover suffragette style jewelry, books, DVDs - click here
Watch Movie Trailer for Iron Jawed Angels
This acclaimed HBO film featured the story of Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, two of the leading suffragettes.
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