The Political Lady-Cricketers

In the latter part of the nineteenth century, heated public debates were being waged about the proper place and function of women. Known as the Woman Question, this contest circulated around women's desire for a widening of their sphere. "The Political Lady-Cricketers," a 1892 cartoon from Punch magazine, demonstrates how representations of women participating in competitive sports like cricket were also used to convey political ideas about female suffrage. The emblem of the women's rights organization, the Women's Liberation Front, emblazons the uniforms of these "lady-cricketers." That the women are doubled, sharing nearly the same stance, suggests solidarity—a "united front" in the nascent women's movement.

The female athletes stand together, hand on hip, with a sideways look of defiance and distain at the man who looks on with disapproval. Their matching haughty pose is the precise opposite of demure womanhood. The women's erect posture conveys physical strength and determination while the man, hunched over in the background, appears comparatively small in stature. While they loom large in the image, he is relegated to the background.

The man has a cricket bat that reads "SUFFRAGE" and holds it away from the women, appearing reluctant to give it to them. Yet one of the women already grasps a bat, and the image captions their claim to "take a turn" in the field of action. Through this representation, we see how women's equality began to be consolidated through their participation in sports.

Punch