votes for women

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I started out with the idea of a "Votes for Women" soap over the Winter while visiting my friends Shawn and Katie in Rochester, NY. In describing my new Schenectady Collection line of history inspired artisan soaps Katie suggested doing one inspired by her area of New York. After a few minutes of brainstorming she suggested a women's suffrage themed bar and I knew I just had to make it happen. 

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The seed of Votes for Women was planted even earlier when I saw an exhibit at the the New York State Museum in Albany, NY a couple years back. I went through the exhibit totally inspired and exited a more educated woman. One display case containing a suffragettes attire inspired my Halloween costume that year. I purchased the exhibit catalogue and a nifty coffee mug that reminds me each day that the 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920. 

August 18, 1920.....wait that means the centennial anniversary is in just one week! 

I started designing my new Votes for Women soap in June and knew I wanted a bar that used the high quality ingredients and artful touch Sweet Sprig is known for. Starting with the three colors of the National Women's Party (gold, white and purple) I added yellow Dandelion infused olive oil and elderflower water. Adorning each bar is a yellow Chrysanthemum. Yellow flowers were often worn as a symbol of  support for women's suffrage. 

The anti-suffrage movement had their own flower, the red rose, to use as a symbol to counter women's suffrage. One 1915 handbill from the exhibit catalogue entitled "Special Privileges New York Women Have Secured Under Male Suffrage" boasted that some of the privileges women held due to male suffrage included:

• Woman may work, earn money, and spend it as she pleases
• May own real and personal property and dispose of it or sell it without her husband's consent
• A father cannot by will appoint a guardian for minor children against the wishes of the mother.

I am grateful to the women who fought so hard and for so long before me. Like with many other civil rights we still have more work to do. 

To get more involved contact your local League of Women Voters and to find out more about our incredible journey check-out the New York State Museums Votes for Women Online Feature.

My favorite coffee mug