Artist Photoshops Men Out of Political Images to Prove We Still Need Feminism

“Token women are wheeled out constantly, but just because there is some female presence doesn’t mean we’ve got equality,” writes Alex Holder, executive creative director at Anomaly London, who recently teamed up with director Alyssa Boni of RSA Films to produce this year’s ELLE UK feminism campaign.

The most recent iteration of the annual campaign that began in 2013 is #MoreWomen, which intends to highlight the disparity between men and women in positions of power, both globally and in the UK. By manipulating familiar images of historical moments, often in politics but also in other realms popular culture, Boni erases the many men pictured, leaving only their lonesome—and often singular—female counterparts.

These images, once emblematic of power and authority, become stripped of their original meanings, and the powerful woman who we might soon come to call our President sits all alone, supported by no one. With the pay gap set firmly at 17.5% in the UK (and around 18% in the US), it isn’t enough to have a place for one woman at the table. If we we accept a single woman as evidence of progress, we establish a system whereby women are forced to pit themselves against one another to attain the one coveted spot, when in fact, says Holder, we should live in a society where “one woman’s success makes every other woman stronger.”

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