Fashion

On Election Tuesday We Wear White

by April Jones

In honor of suffragists, feminists are promising to wear white while voting on Election Day.

On October 23rd, 1915, over 250,000 suffragists* marched down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, fighting for their right to vote. While some of the suffrage groups present chose to wear colors unique to their group, many of them chose to wear white. Just over a century later, feminists supporting Hillary Clinton are promising to do the same on Election Day.

A quick scan of the #WearWhiteToVote hashtag on Twitter, shows women proudly declaring their clothing choices as a political statement rather than a fashion statement. In many states, clothing or accessories that endorse or promote a particular candidate are not allowed in or near polling places. Simply wearing a particular color, on the other hand, is totally allowed.

In fact, Clinton herself wore a white pantsuit when she accepted the Democratic party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention in July and again during the presidential debates. And Geraldine Ferraro, Democratic candidate for vice president, did the same in 1984. Before that, Shirley Chisholm, wore white when she won her election to Congress in 1968, becoming the first Black woman to earn such an honor.

What’s the significance of the color white? According to the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument website, the National Woman’s Party chose three colors to represent their organization: purple, gold, and white. Purple was chosen to represent the “royal glory of womanhood,” gold was for the “crown of victory,” and white was chosen to honor “purity in home and politics.”

Some voters have decided to wear either red or blue to represent whatever party they support. However, considering that Donald Trump has been encouraging his supporters to engage in intimidating behavior at polling places, not everyone feels safe displaying their political affiliations so openly. If you’re not feeling bold enough to wear a “Pussy Grabs Back” t-shirt or one inviting others to ask you about your feminist agenda, consider wearing white instead.

*Note: A previous version of this post referred to the women involved in the suffrage movement  in the United States as “suffragettes” in error. We apologize for the error and have corrected it to the proper term, “suffragists”.