About this Item
A satirical Victorian handkerchief, in pristine condition, which envisions the societal repercussions of granting women equal rights. Looking 100 years ahead, the illustrations depict the laughable role reversal of women serving in traditionally male-dominated careers while men are relegated to the domestic sphere. Being given the vote allows the women of 1981 to serve in the army, navy, and police; to appear in court (see the bench of "Lady Chief Justicesses"); to run for political office (with placards reading "Plump for Mrs Dubblechin"); to pursue academic careers (three cap-wearing academics stare through telescopes); and to become footmen, mechanics, telegraph deliverers, and athletes. Men, in contrast, are sidelined into pastoral vignettes captioned "Perfect Bliss", "Hard Work", and "Nothing to Do", or surrounded by the drudgery of housekeeping and childcare. This anti-suffrage handkerchief "materialises 19th-century opposition to campaigns for women's rights, and demonstrates the fears many opponents had about what would happen if supposedly 'natural' gender roles were disrupted" (Museum of New Zealand). It was registered as design no. 364805 on 7 May 1881 by Carslaw & Henderson, the muslin manufacturers located at 68 Gordon Street, Glasgow. It is also included in the list of printed fabric designs registered between 5 February 1880 and 6 June 1882 held at the National Archives. We have traced seven examples in institutions: three in the UK (Museum of London, Norfolk Museums, and Grosvenor Museum in Chester), two in Australia (State Library of Victoria and National Gallery of Victoria), and one apiece in the US (Duke University, gift of Lisa Unger Baskin) and New Zealand (Museum of New Zealand, gift of Chelsea Nichols). Therle Hughes's Small Decorative Antiques (1959) illustrates an example from the private collection of one W. Hopley (plate 23) and another sold as part of the Lennox-Boyd collection of British mezzotints and printed handkerchiefs in 2008 (Christie's, lot 154). Not in Schoeser, Printed Handkerchiefs, 1988. Original white cotton handkerchief (535 x 600 mm), overprinted in black with illustrations depicting women of the future working in traditionally male fields (under the curlicue headings Army, Law, Navy, Politics, Police, and Science) and men undertaking stereotypical women's work, lettered "Registered No. 364805" along one edge. Lightly creased from folding, a handful of tiny spots: in fine condition.
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