Judge — February 22, 1919 — page 15: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a satirical comic strip about women's suffrage, the major political issue of the 1910s-1920s. "Chawlie" (a character with a working-class accent) initially opposes women voting. The narrative shows him encountering suffragettes, attending a suffrage meeting, and gradually being won over by arguments about women's rights and equality. The humor lies in Chawlie's conversion—he moves from dismissive ("I'd like to see you females can vote") to supporting women's suffrage. Visual gags include references to domestic stereotypes (women catching mice at home, hat pins as weapons) being challenged by progressive arguments. The strip satirizes both anti-suffrage sentiment and the suffrage movement itself, using a comedic character arc to comment on the heated debate over voting rights for women during this era.