A new exhibit is being showcased by the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center titled Corsets, Croquet and Crusades: The Fashion and Fight for Women’s Rights.

Tandy Nash, education director at KYGMC and curator of the exhibit explained the exhibit is in honor of the 100 year anniversary of the passing of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

When it comes to women’s suffrage and the fight to secure equal rights for women, Nash said the right to vote was one of many subjects women wished to rectify.

“A lot of women who fought for suffrage wanted a lot of different things, it wasn’t just to vote,” she said. “At that time, women were not more than anything but possessions; when you married, if you worked at all, you gave your wages to your husband, you had no legal recourse if he beat you, if you divorced he got the children.”

A big point of contention for many women around Mason County at the time was that of the age of consent.

“You could be 13 years old and your father could marry you away, and women’s suffrage raised that first to 16 and then to 18,” Nash said. “A lot of women in the Mason County area fought for that, Alice Lloyd for one was a big proponent for raising the age of consent.”

Many of the pieces shown at the exhibit were part of the museum’s collection already, which included numerous articles of clothing from that time period, along with cosmetic items women used at the time. Also included among the items are those which belonged to the Mason County Women’s Suffrage League.

“The fashion of suffragettes was an important a part of their fight — it was almost a brand,” Nash said. “It was important for them to look their best and to be feminine. In fact lipstick; it was scandalous to wear makeup, unless you were on the stage at that time in history, you were either on the stage or you were a lady of ill repute.”

“Elizabeth Cady Stanton wore lipstick as she marched down the streets of New York. Elizabeth Arden had a cosmetic business, and she ran out on the streets and handed out lipstick to the marchers. It was a sign of rebellion, and a sign of you’re your own lady.”

Nash said she was rather surprised when she began researching the suffrage movement in Mason County, and how it involved men and women working together for a common goal.

“I was amazed when I started doing the exhibit, how big the organization was in Mason County was,” she said. “Men and women were both members of the organization, and it was good because men were the only ones that could vote for the 19th Amendment.”

For those who come to visit the exhibit, Nash hopes that people will see the struggle that women went through for equal rights, and to learn that fashion was a very important aspect toward the fight for women’s rights — that women can be equal to men, without trading in their femininity — and how much effort was put into ensuring that idea came across to detractors of the cause.

Croquet and Crusades: The Fashion and Fight for Women’s Rights, will remain at the museum for people to view until Mother’s Day on May 12.

A new exhibit is being showcased by the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center in honor of the 100 year anniversary of the passing of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
https://maysville-online.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_031119-news-womensrights.jpgA new exhibit is being showcased by the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center in honor of the 100 year anniversary of the passing of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Jonathan Wright

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