As Vice President Kamala Harris prepared to greet delegates at the final night of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, a sea of women clad in white clothing was preparing to meet her.
White suits, white dresses and at least one pair of white lace socks filled the Chicago arena, as women dressed to honor the legacy of suffragettes who fought to give women the right to vote — and to celebrate the first Black and Indian American woman to become a major party’s nominee.
“Wearing white today reminds everybody that this is women on the move, women who have suffered, who are now taking their rightful place in leadership of Democratic Party politics in a profound way,” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who wore a white pantsuit over a colorful blouse. She added that “women are on the ballot,” with abortion access such a prominent issue for Democrats this year.
Wearing a white top and shorts, Alice Mungia, 62, a teacher from Ontario, said fighting for reproductive rights was the main reason she traveled to the DNC this year. Mungia had two miscarriages which required dilation and curettage procedures. She said she didn’t want her granddaughter to have to live through something like that with fewer protections than she had.
“[Republicans] are just sending us back to the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant,” she said. “I’m like, what’s going on here?”
Jackie Smith of Placer County came decked in full suffragette gear — a white blazer and pants, as well as a wide-brimmed white hat. She topped off her outfit with a sash emblazoned with: “Women win the vote.”
The convention week coincided with the anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, the constitutional provision that gave women the right to vote in 1920.
“It’s not lost on me that I just boarded a flight to Chicago on the 104th anniversary of the 19th Amendment — for which the publication I helped start and I write for is named — to see the first woman of color officially accept the Democratic Party nomination for president,” tweeted Errin Haines, editor at large of 19th News — a publication covering the intersection of gender, politics and policy.
“Elections are about the future, but we cannot forget the history also present in this moment.”
Democratic women clad in white are becoming an increasingly common spectacle at political bashes.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wore white to become the first woman accepting the party’s nomination for president at the DNC in 2016. In 2018, a sea of women in white filled Congress after a historic number of Democratic women won seats in the House. Female politicians have sported white clothing to most State of the Union addresses in recent years, sometimes with the intention of drawing attention to certain issues such as abortion access.
