Equality is the Sacred Law of Humanity by Egbert Jacobson - c. 1903-1915 private collection Equality is the Sacred Law of Humanity by Egbert Jacobson - c. 1903-1915 private collection

Equality is the Sacred Law of Humanity

lithograph •
  • Egbert Jacobson - 1890 - 1966 Egbert Jacobson c. 1903-1915

The first “Woman’s Day” celebration took place in Chicago on May 3, 1908. Organized by the U.S. Socialist Party, it brought together an audience of 1,500 women who demanded economic and political equality, on a day officially dedicated to “the female workers’ causes.” The following year, women gathered in New York for a similar celebration. Inspired by these American initiatives, European socialists soon followed suit. Now this day is being celebrated around the world. 

On this day we present a poster from the American suffrage movement; even though it was designed by man, the story behind it is extremely powerful. The crusade for women's suffrage is one of the longest reform movements in American history. Between 1832 and 1920, women citizens organized for the right to vote, agitating first in their states or territories and, simultaneously, through petitioning for a federal amendment.

The use of symbols drawn from ancient Greece and Rome appealed to conservative values and asserted the respectability of the suffragist movement. A woman in profile wears a winged helmet to illustrate her role as a divine messenger of equality, while the bundle of sticks around an axe symbolizes strength through unity. Egbert Jacobson, a graphic designer and a leader in color theory and typography, was married to a prominent suffragist, Franc Delzell Jacobsen—and he, like many men, supported her cause. 

Today, don't forget the generations of women fighting for the rights we still need to protect today. And don't forget the generations of women artists, whose stories are waiting to be revealed and told. Happy International Women's Day!

P.S. Why have there been no great female artists? Was it really so? Meet five women artists whose works were misattributed to men!