Women's Suffrage
A different idea of womanhood emerged during the late nineteenth century into the twentieth century. A New Woman was described as Gibson Girl, a suffragist, a Progressive reformer, a bohemian feminist, a college girl, a bicyclist, a flapper, a working-class militant, or a Hollywood vamp. This challenged traditional structures and gender norms as this New Woman made her public presence through work, education, and the entertainment industry. This new modern look contrasted previous Victorian ideals.
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In the early 20th century, the social and cultural changes transformed this new look. With shifting immigration, industrialization, and advancement of print technologies, the New Woman was able to advance her role.
Through these new print technology advancements, women were able to influence consumer culture, imperialism, changes in the structures of the labor force, and post-Reconstruction race relations through several print advertisements.
The Gibson Girl
This was a new representation of a beauty ideal that corresponded with white middle-class women’s growing opportunities for work, education, and engagement with consumer culture. She was not viewed as a factory worker but rather a middle-class college debutante. She presented herself through two major developments of the time. While not associated with politics, she showcased women’s entrance into higher education, and their engagement in sports. Coming from an original product of the printed media, the Gibson Girl transitioned into commercialized image as well. By the mid-1890s, the Gibson Girl became one of the most marketed images of the time. She began appearing in advertising while also on a myriad of consumer products: fashion, wallpaper, silverware, and furniture.
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An image of the ideal women known as a "Gibson Girl" carrying a golf club over her shoulder.
Another image of the idea of a "Gibson Girl" promoting Scribners.
An image of the ideal women known as a "Gibson Girl" carrying a golf club over her shoulder.
The Gibson Girl advertisements represented the New Woman of the century.
The Political New Women
This New Woman was heavily associated with the woman’s suffrage movement. As the illustration shows, the woman depicted was a fashionable young woman, dressed in a one-piece dress and wide hat with feathers, with a sash hanging from her shoulder. These type of print illustrations described the Political New Woman as a woman with class and a fashion sense in order to change the attitudes people had towards women during the suffrage movement.
A representation of what the Political New Woman should be dressed as.