Passive/active

Why an image of Aletta Jacobs? Very simple, because she (had she still been alive) would have been absolutely proud today, this champion of women's suffrage. And why she would have been proud today of all days, Aletta Jacobs?! Again, very simple, because today, July 5th, but in 1922, Dutch women were allowed to exercise their right to vote for the first time. So they were allowed to cast their vote. They had already had the right to stand for election, the right to stand for election, since 1917. The attainment of the right to vote, to be precise the 60th anniversary of that fact, was celebrated in 1979 with a postage stamp. I hear you thinking, 1922 – 1919, there are three years between them. That difference lies in the fact that in 1919 active suffrage for women was legally recognized, but elections were not held until three years later. Which stamp are we talking about? The stamp below, a design by Addy de Meester. Twenty years later, in 1999, as part of the Highlights of the 20th Century series by designers Hans Bockting and Will de l'Ecluse, women's suffrage is once again the subject of a postage stamp. What actually surprises me about this whole story? That there isn't a stamp – at least I haven't been able to find one – purely in honor of Aletta Jacobs. Surely she seems like a woman worthy of a stamp, to put it mildly?! Or was she perhaps a bit too, let's just say, independent?!