The Wasp — 1894 — page 370: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon mocks female suffrage by depicting a chaotic registration office scene. A male registrar appears flustered as women applicants create disorder—one woman raises her hand dramatically, another holds a purse, a third gestures wildly. The humor relies on gender stereotypes: the cartoon suggests women voters would be emotional, irrational, and disruptive to civic institutions. The caption identifies the figures as "cultured officials" and "apostles of emancipation," mocking both female suffrage advocates and sympathetic male officials. The joke—that women's enfranchisement would undermine the dignity of voting—was a common anti-suffrage argument in the 1890s. This reflects contemporary opposition to women's voting rights, which weren't federally granted in the U.S. until 1920.