Curators and collectors have long observed that women achieved near-parity with men much earlier in photography than in other art forms, such as painting and sculpture. While women were involved in photography since its inception in 1839, it was in the first few decades of the 20th century that women’s participation took off. As one measure, the number of American photo studios managed by women grew from under 300 in 1880 to 5000 in 1910 and 7000 in 1920.  

This growth was due to a confluence of technical and social advances. On the technical side, the final years of the 19th century saw the introduction of the Kodak Brownie camera, which Kodak marketed explicitly to women as a low-cost, portable alternative to the old-fashioned tripod-mounted box cameras of yore. At the same time, cumbersome glass plate negatives were replaced by film, further lowering the barriers to entry. As a consequence, the early 1900s witnessed an explosion of camera clubs and training workshops on both sides of the Atlantic, almost all of which were open to women at a time when many traditional art academies remained closed to them.

 On the social side, the early 1900s saw the “first wave” of the women’s rights movement, and with it, an acceptance of middle-class women working independently outside the home. And to the very real extent that women faced gender discrimination in the workplace, it is relevant that the profession of photographer was considered a “petit bourgeois” vocation -- several notches less prestigious than the traditional art forms – hence less of a threat to the paternal social order.

For these reasons and more, the camera proved the ideal instrument for self-expression and self-actualization for the modern woman of aesthetic discernment and professional ambition.