International Woman Suffrage Convention of Paris, 1926

Woman Suffrage, Shizuye

Original Photo

Original Gelatin silver print black and white vintage press photo measuring 6.5 x 8.75" and dated March, 1926. Miyakawa, a respected Japanese activist, sits quietly in her desk chair with a collection of books and papers. Within two months, she would be representing the voice of Japanese women at the May 1926 International Woman Suffrage Convention in Paris. In Japan, women had only recently in 1921 gained the right to belong to political organizations. The International Woman Suffrage Alliance gained attention at that time, as did emerging Japanese women's groups such as the Women's Suffrage League (Fusen Kakutoku Domei), which Miyakawa would go on to represent. These original press photo taken by photojournalist within tight timeframe for the benefit of particular editorial board and with the aim of usage by the press to illustate an article often affected public opinion in the nation.

The convention -- the 10th in an annual series hosted by Carrie Chapman Catt and the International Woman Suffrage Alliance -- intended to focus this particular gathering on the nations that had yet to grant suffrage, as well as the specific rules surrounding suffrage in nations that had already opened voting to women. Of specific concern was the question of what constituted equality in the workplace. Following a vigorous debate, the committee voted 70 to 38 to submit to the convention a resolution stating that “no special regulations for women’s work different from regulation for men’s should be imposed on women; that the only policy consonant with the present trend of labor legislation, which permits the fullest development of the welfare of all workers and safeguards individual liberty, is that of basing all labor regulations or restrictions upon the nature of the work and not upon the sex of the worker.” Women in Japan obtained the right to vote in 1946, in part due to pressure from international organizations arguing against the injustice of Japanese women being educated and allowed to work, but not able to participate directly in political policy surrounding those spaces. Photo in very good condition.

Item #14793

Price: $85.00