My response to the THEME Femina-
- Susan Callahan
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Women Need Pockets
20" x 32"
What is Femina?
"Femina" is a Latin word meaning "woman" or "female," which is the root for the English word "feminine". Popular culture uses the word feminine as attributes to style, fashion, and even personal characteristics such as speech and body shape.
Femine Attire
When we think of dressing ourselves, there is a history of vastly different apparel and norms of dress for men, women and children. I chose to focus on pockets. Why were women’s clothing designed without pockets? And why was it until the middle of the 20th century that pockets important is women’s fashions.
Complement a woman of the dress she is wearing and undoubtedly she will say " And it has pockets!"
Researching the topic, one can find several references as to why women’s clothing has been purposely designed without packets One is that women wanted slim lines and pockets would interfere with that style. But there are other reasons that have been explored and theories published. Topics include everything from cost of pockets to sexism of manufacturers. One amusing theory stated that if womens clothing had pockets then they wouldn’t buy handbags.
This is not just historical data this bias continues to exist.
According to a 2018 study by The Pudding, the front pockets on women’s jeans are on average 48 per cent shorter and 6.5 per cent narrower than they are on men’s jeans. As someone on Reddit said, “men can literally park their car in their pockets,” whereas most women can’t even fit their own hand in theirs.
Women Need Pockets
I purposely chose pockets from men’s shirts for this artwork. A play of gender norms of what is appropriate as feminine attire. Using a traditional quilt layout of simple blocks. I used more “feminine” fabrics for shashing for blocks. I filled the pockets with found objects. A fun project to consider and create.
Women need pockets to hold necessary items, secrets and dreams.
Susan Callahan
2025
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