Posted March 01, 2017 15:04:58

If you were watching President Donald Trump's address to Congress, you would have noticed that a lot of people in the audience were wearing white.

There was a reason for that: women from the Democratic Party were making a nod to the suffragette movement in front of a President they believe has a poor record on women's issues.

To understand why they chose to wear white, you have to go back to the early 20th century.

In 1908, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, the founder of landmark publication Votes for Women, urged supporters to wear white, green and purple at a Women's Social and Political Union rally at Hyde Park in London.

She later explained that white, green and purple represented purity, hope and dignity respectively.

America's own National Women's Party similarly chose white, purple and gold as its colours in 1913.

White has been used as a symbol of feminism ever since.

Congresswoman Lois Frankel, chair of the Democratic Women's Working Group, said wearing white to Mr Trump's speech was about "saying loud and clear that the nation will not go back on women's rights".

She said they were fighting on behalf of women for:

• Access to affordable healthcare, including services like abortions
• Equal pay for equal work
• Paid sick and family leave
• Quality, affordable child care
• Secure retirements
• Freedom from fear and violence

In his speech, Mr Trump said he would "work with members in both parties to make childcare accessible and affordable, to help ensure new parents have paid family leave, to invest in women's health".

During the 2016 US presidential election campaign, it was noted that his rival Hillary Clinton often wore white at key moments, though she never explicitly stated whether this was in reference to the suffragettes.

Topics: world-politics, womens-health, women, united-states