When the US Congress meets, it is usually a sea of blue, gray and black. Not so with Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. A group of Democratic women stood out here – all in white.
Yes, it was Joe Biden day. Rarely has the US President been so loud, so combative, so determined. But the unusually energetic 81-year-old was not the only phenomenon in Washington on Tuesday evening.
In the drab sea of black, gray and dark blue, one group undoubtedly stood out: dozens of Democratic women dressed all in white as they listened to Biden’s State of the Union address. Coats, trouser suits, sweaters, cardigans, blazers: everything was there, the main thing was that it was as brightly white as possible.
With the uniform choice of colors, the congresswomen wanted to do much more than just stand out. With the fashion statement they sent a sign of solidarity.
The suffragette movement – women’s fight for a political say
It was a sight very much in the style of the so-called “suffragettes,” as women’s rights activists were called in the United States and Great Britain at the beginning of the 20th century. The term is derived from the English word “suffrage”, which means the right to vote. The founder of the movement is the British Emmeline Pankhurst, who fought for women’s political participation together with her daughters despite persecution and arrest. The feminists are said to have worn white, which stands for purity, in order to externally defend themselves against the accusation that they and their demands were “morally corrupt.”
In the US Congress, however, the suffragette white is not long back. The co-founder of the still young tradition is probably the former Democratic group leader in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. In 2017, after then-President Trump presented his agenda to both chambers for the first time, she posted a picture of colleagues in white. Except for the “State of the Union” speech in 2018, when some Democratic women wore black in the spirit of the #MeToo movement, suffragette white is again an integral part of feminist Democrats during the annual presidential speech.
This year, many congresswomen also wore African kente cloth or pink accents, also associated with the suffragette movement. With Trump’s possible return to the White House, many Americans also fear a nationwide, gradual rollback of their rights, especially the right to abortion, which is already restricted in many states.
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Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
