Political lipstick

Some may still consider women who prioritise or simply enjoy cosmetics to be vacuous, vain or just plain stupid. Yet, perhaps surprisingly, make-up has played an important role in female politics.

Throughout history and in modern societies where the wearing of make-up is still disapproved of by men, women have often used it as a challenge and as a form of insubordination and rebellion. For example, the suffragettes adopted red lipstick as a symbol of defiance before World War I, while in recent times, some Afghan women – crushed under the ultra-patriarchal Taliban system – wore full make-up under their burkas.

'Make-up is as fraught with political meaning and intention as it has ever been,' says Farzaneh Milani, a professor of Persian and women's studies at the University of Virginia. 'Iranian women, for instance, may have successfully invaded male territories – behind steering wheels, in positions of government, in universities – yet under Islamic law, a dab of lipstick can still land them in jail. A lipstick is not just lipstick in Iran. It transmits political messages. It is a weapon.'