Life — September 23, 1909 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a *Suffragette Number* cover from *Life* magazine (September 23, 1909), priced at 10 cents. The illustration, credited to Coles Phillips, shows a woman at a desk with a calendar marked with X's above her head, suggesting tracking or marking time. She's examining what appears to be ballot materials or voting documents. The caption reads "DO I REALLY WANT THAT VOTE?" The satire targets women's suffrage activism by depicting a woman reconsidering her commitment to voting rights—suggesting hesitation or doubt about the cause. The calendar of X's likely represents the suffragists' campaign progress or a countdown to some event. The cartoon expresses skepticism toward women's political engagement, mocking suffragettes' determination through the ironic question posed by a woman herself apparently wavering in her conviction.