This Friday, March 8, International Women’s Day is celebrated, a day in which women around the world take to the streets to demand equal opportunities and rights. The different demonstrations called in different capitals of the country will be dyed purple, the color associated with the feminist movement.
But why does purple represent this struggle? There are different theories that could explain the origin of this movement. The most widespread, and the one with the greatest consensus among groups led by women, is related to a tragic event that was key to promoting the first female protests.
On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist textile factory in New York, claiming the lives of 146 people, 123 of whom were women. Most of them were young immigrants, from Italy and Eastern Europe, between 14 and 23 years old. They had been hired to make men’s shirts that were supposedly purple, and it is said that the smoke that came out of the factory chimneys was of this color and could be seen from miles away.
The employees worked ten hours a day and were also obliged to work on Saturdays. Legend also says, although it could not be confirmed at the time, that the person responsible for setting fire to the building was one of the business owners in response to the protests that the workers had started over the harsh working conditions.
Another theory that relates purple to the feminist movement dates back to 1908, when English suffragettes used this color, along with white and green, to represent the feminist struggle. These women demanded the right to vote. “Purple, the color of sovereigns, symbolizes the royal blood that runs through the veins of each fighter for the right to vote, it symbolizes their awareness of freedom and dignity. White symbolizes honesty in private life and in life. politics. And green symbolizes hope in a new beginning,” said British activist Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence.
A third theory, although it is the least widespread, is that purple is the result of mixing pink and blue, the two colors traditionally attributed to women and men, respectively.
It should be remembered that purple resurfaced strongly in October 2017 thanks to the appearance of the Me Too and Time’s Up movements. Several Hollywood celebrities denounced the cases of sexual assault and harassment they suffered at the hands of film producer Harvey Weinstein. A movement that also spread to the fashion sector, when several models accused photographers such as Terry Richardson or Mario Testino of inappropriate sexual conduct.
This wave of complaints in different sectors led Pantone to designate the shade Ultra Violet 18-3838 as the star shade of 2018. “Ultra Violet is an enigmatic shade of purple that evokes the inventive spirit and imaginative thinking that challenges the status quo. A spiritual, cosmic nuance, Ultra Violet pushes the limits of what inspires us forward and into the future,” the company explained.
