--- title: Women's suffrage posters and cartoons, 1880 to 1923 url: https://propagandaarchive.org/womens-suffrage-posters/ description: Women's suffrage posters and cartoons from Britain and the United States, for and against the vote, with techniques named and sources shown. section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: a dossier collage of an evidence wall of pinned propaganda posters, leaflets and printed matter from many eras, with contact sheets and catalog labels.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/hero-collection.jpg) Collection # Women's suffrage posters and cartoons, 1880 to 1923 Women's suffrage posters and cartoons from Britain and the United States, for and against the vote, with techniques named and sources shown. 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) 3. Women's suffrage posters [!["A Female Suffrage Fancy" (Puck, 14 July 1880)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/female-suffrage-fancy-puck-1880.jpg)"A Female Suffrage Fancy" (Puck, 14 July 1880)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/female-suffrage-fancy-puck-1880/) [!["Shall Women Vote?" (Puck centerfold, 31 March 1909)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/shall-women-vote-puck-1909-640.jpg)"Shall Women Vote?" (Puck centerfold, 31 March 1909)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/shall-women-vote-puck-1909/) [!["The Feminine of Jekyll and Hyde" (Puck, 1913)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/puck-feminine-of-jekyll-and-hyde-1913-640.jpg)"The Feminine of Jekyll and Hyde" (Puck, 1913)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/puck-feminine-of-jekyll-and-hyde-1913/) [!["Vote Yes for Woman Suffrage" poster stamp, New Jersey Next Campaign Committee (United States, 1915)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/new-jersey-next-vote-yes-suffrage-stamp-1915-640.jpg)"Vote Yes for Woman Suffrage" poster stamp, New Jersey Next Campaign Committee (United States, 1915)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/new-jersey-next-vote-yes-suffrage-stamp-1915/) [!["The Genii of Intolerance: A Dangerous Ally for the Cause of Women Suffrage" (Puck, 25 September 1915)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/genii-of-intolerance-puck-1915.jpg)"The Genii of Intolerance: A Dangerous Ally for the Cause of Women Suffrage" (Puck, 25 September 1915)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/genii-of-intolerance-puck-1915/) [!["Everything but the vote is still to be won" (Equal Rights, 24 February 1923)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/susan-b-anthony-everything-but-the-vote-equal-rights-1923-640.jpg)"Everything but the vote is still to be won" (Equal Rights, 24 February 1923)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/susan-b-anthony-everything-but-the-vote-equal-rights-1923/) > **Content note.** The cartoons below come from both sides of the suffrage argument. Some ridicule women, and one uses a racial caricature of Black women and imitation dialect, as published in 1913. They are shown as issued, as evidence of what was said to the public. Showing an item is not endorsing it. [What did women's suffrage posters look like?](https://propagandaarchive.org/womens-suffrage-posters/#what-did-women-s-suffrage-posters-look-like) [Posters from the campaigns](https://propagandaarchive.org/womens-suffrage-posters/#posters-from-the-campaigns) [Cartoons against and about the cause](https://propagandaarchive.org/womens-suffrage-posters/#cartoons-against-and-about-the-cause) [How it ended, and what is not here](https://propagandaarchive.org/womens-suffrage-posters/#how-it-ended-and-what-is-not-here) ## What did women's suffrage posters look like? Suffrage posters and cartoons were made by both sides. Campaign groups used allegory, mothers and children, and maps; opponents used jokes about dress, hats and reversed roles. The collection holds items from the United States and Britain, from 1880 to 1923, and treats them by one standard: who issued the sheet, who it was aimed at, and which technique it uses, whatever the cause. ![Poster of 1909: a woman rows a small boat against high waves while a man in a sailboat glides past, his sail marked VOTES](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/handicapped-artists-suffrage-league-1909.jpg) ## Posters from the campaigns "Handicapped!" (1909), the winner of a poster competition run by the Artists' Suffrage League in London, makes its case in one picture: effort against ease, with the word on the sail naming the difference. [Appeal to emotion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/appeal-to-emotion/) is the tag. The Brighton and Hove Women's Franchise Society poster "Justice Demands the Vote" (1909) uses a robed figure of Justice beside a mother and infant, tagged [Appeal to emotion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/appeal-to-emotion/) and [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/). Explain moreShow less In the United States the weekly *The Suffragist*, published first by the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage and from 1917 the National Woman's Party, carried cover drawings that addressed the President and the governing party by name. The collection holds "Votes for Mothers!" (1914), "Fairy Godmother, W.W." (1915), and "Frightfulness!!" (1916), and, from the National Woman's Party's later weekly *Equal Rights*, a 1923 drawing of Susan B. Anthony saying that everything but the vote was still to be won ([Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/)). ![Puck cover of 1894: a woman in a very wide dress and hat is turned away from a narrow voting booth](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/squelcher-for-woman-suffrage-puck-1894.jpg) ## Cartoons against and about the cause The magazine *Puck* printed suffrage cartoons of every stance, so its pages show how the argument was carried on in public. "A Female Suffrage Fancy" (1880), "A Squelcher for Woman Suffrage" (1894), and "When Women Vote" (1909) argue by joke, in each case from a picture of women that suffragists did not claim ([Straw man](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/straw-man/)). "Shall Women Vote?" (1909) and "The Awakening" (1915) argue for the cause, the second with a map of the western states where women already voted ([Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/)). "The Genii of Intolerance" (1915) warns suffragists that Prohibition was a dangerous ally ([Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)). Explain moreShow less The collection also holds the postcard "This is 'the house' that man built" (1908) and the Georgia anti-suffrage card of 1915, both against the cause, and the 1915 New Jersey poster stamp for it. One cartoon, from 1913, shows the argument turning on race: a white suffragist is met by Black women carrying banners, and the artist mocks them in dialect. Several leading white suffragists argued for the vote on terms that left Black women out, and Black suffragists organised separately. ## How it ended, and what is not here The Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in August 1920. Women in Britain over thirty with property qualifications got the vote in 1918, and all women over 21 in 1928. The collection holds several items from the 1915 state campaigns in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, all four of which voted the amendment down that year. Explain moreShow less - **Not here:** posters printed in the name of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and more than one Women's Social and Political Union item: that union is represented by its 1910 prison poster only. - **Not here:** suffrage items from outside the United States and Britain, including the Australian, New Zealand and Finnish campaigns. Sources and further reading ## Sources Lisa Tickner, The Spectacle of Women: Imagery of the Suffrage Campaign 1907-14 (Chatto & Windus, 1987). Lisa Tickner, *The Spectacle of Women: Imagery of the Suffrage Campaign 1907-14* (Chatto & Windus, 1987). Aileen S. Kraditor, *The Ideas of the Woman Suffrage Movement, 1890-1920* (Columbia University Press, 1965). Library of Congress, "Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote" (exhibition). Each item in the grid carries its own source and rights note. ## Suffrage posters and cartoons in the collection Showing 27 of 27 objects. [Filter the whole collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/). - ["A Female Suffrage Fancy" (Puck, 14 July 1880)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/female-suffrage-fancy-puck-1880/) (United States · Jul 14, 1880 · Straw man). Content note: 1880 satire of women voting, built on gender-reversal jokes, shown as published. - ["A Squelcher for Woman Suffrage" (Puck cover, 6 June 1894)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/squelcher-for-woman-suffrage-puck-1894/) (United States · Jun 6, 1894 · Straw man) - [This is 'the house' that man built (anti-suffrage postcard, about 1908)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anti-suffrage-home-that-man-built-1908/) (United Kingdom · 1908 · Name-calling). Content note: Comic caricature of a suffragette being arrested; mocking verse about her imprisonment. - ["Handicapped!" (Artists' Suffrage League poster, London, 1909)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/handicapped-artists-suffrage-league-1909/) (United Kingdom · 1909 · Appeal to emotion) - ["Justice Demands the Vote" (Brighton & Hove Women's Franchise Society, 1909)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/justice-demands-the-vote-brighton-hove-1909/) (United Kingdom · 1909 · Appeal to emotion, Transfer) - ["Shall Women Vote?" (Puck centerfold, 31 March 1909)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/shall-women-vote-puck-1909/) (United States · Mar 31, 1909 · Appeal to emotion, Card stacking) - ["When women vote: what will happen if the polling place is located in a millinery shop" (Puck, 1909)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/when-women-vote-millinery-shop-puck-1909/) (United States · Apr 28, 1909 · Straw man) - [Torturing Women in Prison. Vote Against the Government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/torturing-women-in-prison-wspu-1910/) (United Kingdom · 1910 · Name-calling) - ["Well, Missy! Heah we is!" (Puck, 1913)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/well-missy-heah-we-is-puck-1913/) (United States · Mar 13, 1913 · Name-calling, Straw man). Content note: 1913 cartoon with racial caricature of Black women and dialect, drawn into the suffrage debate, shown as published. - ["The Temptation of Saint Samuel" (Puck, 1913)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/temptation-of-saint-samuel-puck-1913/) (United States · Apr 2, 1913 · Transfer) - ["The Feminine of Jekyll and Hyde" (Puck, 1913)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/puck-feminine-of-jekyll-and-hyde-1913/) (United States · Jun 4, 1913 · Name-calling) - ["In Belgium and yet when she wanted the vote they told her a woman's place was in the home" (cartoon, 1914)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/in-belgium-and-yet-woman-wanted-the-vote-1914/) (United States · 1914 · Appeal to emotion, Whataboutism) - ["Giddap!" (Puck back cover, 14 March 1914)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/giddap-suffrage-hikers-puck-1914/) (United States · Mar 14, 1914 · Plain folks) - ["Votes for Mothers!" (The Suffragist, cover, 13 June 1914)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/votes-for-mothers-suffragist-1914/) (United States · Jun 13, 1914 · Appeal to emotion) - [Vote Against Woman Suffrage](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/georgia-vote-against-woman-suffrage-1915/) (United States · 1915 · Fear appeal, Bandwagon) - ["Vote Yes for Woman Suffrage" poster stamp, New Jersey Next Campaign Committee (United States, 1915)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/new-jersey-next-vote-yes-suffrage-stamp-1915/) (United States · 1915 · Transfer) - ["Votes for Women" chocolate label, Pennsylvania Chocolate Company (1915)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/votes-for-women-chocolate-label-1915/) (United States · 1915 · Bandwagon) - ["Women are too sentimental for jury duty" -- Anti-Suffrage argument (Puck cartoon)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/women-too-sentimental-jury-duty-puck-1915/) (United States · Jan 23, 1915 · Whataboutism). Content note: Cartoon quoting an anti-suffrage argument about women's emotional fitness for jury duty, answered by showing weeping male jurors. - ["The Awakening" (Puck centerfold, 20 February 1915)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/awakening-puck-1915/) (United States · Feb 20, 1915 · Bandwagon, Transfer) - ["Making the Polls Attractive to the Anti-Suffragists" (Puck, 20 February 1915)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/making-polls-attractive-to-anti-suffragists-puck-1915/) (United States · Feb 20, 1915 · Straw man) - ["The Genii of Intolerance: A Dangerous Ally for the Cause of Women Suffrage" (Puck, 25 September 1915)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/genii-of-intolerance-puck-1915/) (United States · Sep 25, 1915 · Fear appeal) - ["I did not raise my girl to be a voter"](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/puck-did-not-raise-my-girl-1915/) (United States · Oct 9, 1915 · Transfer) - ["Fairy Godmother, W.W." (The Suffragist, cover, 4 December 1915)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/fairy-godmother-wilson-suffragist-1915/) (United States · Dec 4, 1915 · Transfer) - ["Frightfulness!!" (The Suffragist, cover, 26 August 1916)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/frightfulness-democratic-donkey-suffragist-1916/) (United States · Aug 26, 1916 · Name-calling) - [Virginia Arnold \[holding Kaiser Wilson banner\]](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kaiser-wilson-banner-1917/) (United States · 1917 · Transfer) - [America When Feminized](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/america-when-feminized-1920/) (United States · 1920 · Fear appeal, Testimonial) - ["Everything but the vote is still to be won" (Equal Rights, 24 February 1923)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/susan-b-anthony-everything-but-the-vote-equal-rights-1923/) (United States · Feb 24, 1923 · Testimonial) ## Related guides and pages - [American propaganda posters: US examples by technique](https://propagandaarchive.org/american-propaganda-posters/) - [Uncle Sam posters: the I Want You poster and what else he was used for](https://propagandaarchive.org/american-propaganda-posters/uncle-sam-poster/) - [WPA posters: New Deal and wartime posters, 1936 to 1943](https://propagandaarchive.org/wpa-posters/) - [Civil War propaganda: 1860 and 1864 election prints](https://propagandaarchive.org/civil-war-propaganda/) - [Public domain propaganda posters to download](https://propagandaarchive.org/public-domain-propaganda-posters/) - [Propaganda art: posters, cartoons and paintings by purpose](https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-art/) - [Cold War propaganda posters, radio and leaflets](https://propagandaarchive.org/cold-war-propaganda-posters/) - [Votes for Women and the anti-suffrage campaigns, 1908 to 1920](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/suffrage-and-anti-suffrage/) - [Union and Confederate print, 1861-1865](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/us-civil-war-print/) - [Join or Die to the Boston Massacre: patriot and loyalist print, 1754-1783](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/american-revolution-prints/) - [All guides](https://propagandaarchive.org/guides/)