The Cat and Mouse Act
Item
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Title
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The Cat and Mouse Act
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Description
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Visual Description: This poster features an angry house cat biting a light-skinned woman, framed in a purple circle. The composition of the cat and the woman parallels that of a cat biting a mouse. The woman appears distraught as her limbs are limp and dangling downwards. She wears a white blouse with sleeves that are bunched up to a little below her elbows. She sports a blue skirt that goes to her ankles as well as stockings and black shoes. Draping down her side is a green, white and gray sash with the letters "WSPU" stitched into the fabric. Behind the cat and woman is a painted cityscape and castle. The sky behind the city is a light hue of gray compared to the deeper hues of the buildings. Outside of the circle, there is capitalized text both above and below. Above the circle, in a large font reads "The Cat and Mouse Act," with the "Cat and Mouse" portion being underlined. Below this headline are the words "Passed by the Liberal Government" in a small font. Both of these fonts use the same san serif typeface that has a warm gray outline with a white fill. Below the circle are three lines of text reading "The Liberal Cat Electors Vote Against Him! Keep the Liberal Out!" The last line of text is underlined similarly to the "Cat and Mouse" line from above the circle. This text is in the same typeface as the font at the top of the poster. Underneath this text, in a black serif font, reads "Buy and Read 'The Suffragette' Price 1D."
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Contextual Description: Prominently referencing a cat-and-mouse chase, this particular women's suffrage poster uses a cat and woman to represent the British Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act 1913. It kept many suffragists, specifically those involved in the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), in an endless loop of being released from jail only to be rearrested soon afterwards. The act would temporarily free prisoners whenever their health deteriorated which is particularly notable as some suffragists would go on hunger strike while in prison. On the flip side, this same act required the former prisoners to resume their sentence once their health conditions had improved. Because of the nature of this cycle, the poster symbolizes the constant hunt and recapturing of these suffragists through the cat-and-mouse analogy. When this act was passed by the Liberal government, the government lost support from British voters as they did not agree with the fact that the suffragists were repeatedly released and imprisoned without trial for the same offense.
Source: Cannon, J. A. "Cat and Mouse Act, 1913." In The Oxford Companion to British History, edited by John Cannon, and Robert Crowcroft. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, Inc., 2015. https://ezproxy.rit.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/oupoxford/cat_and_mouse_act_1913/0?institutionId=3255
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Identifier
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Alt Text: Suffrage poster of a woman being bitten like a mouse by a cat
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Date
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1914
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Creator
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Anonymous.
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Source
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Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute Gr-15.1-5
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Publisher
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David Allen & Sons, Ltd.
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Rights
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https://library.harvard.edu/privacy-terms-use-copyright-information#visuals
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Subject
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Women, Suffrage, Suffragettes, Posters, Politics
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Format
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Material: Paper
Technique: Lithography
Dimensions: 20 x 30 inches
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Language
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English
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Type
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Posters
