From 100-Year-Old Women's Motoring Masks to Contemporary PPE: A Socio-Political Study of Persistent Problems and Inventive Possibilities
Sociology
; : 1, 2023.
Article
in English
| Academic Search Complete | ID: covidwho-2223963
ABSTRACT
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, personal protective equipment became central to daily news. Face masks may have been critical, but they were clearly not equally designed or distributed, compelling many health workers to make their own. These issues are neither new nor specific to health-oriented fields. We offer insights from another case of individuals taking personal protective equipment into their own hands. We analyse patents for women's motoring face masks invented in the USA, Canada, England and France (1900–1925). Our findings suggest that women invented and wore face masks not only to drive safely, but to position themselves as legitimate motorists and as citizens with equal rights to technology, public space and resources at the turn of the last century. We propose that a study of historic motoring face masks might offer insights into persistent problems and inventive possibilities relating to contemporary personal protective equipment. [ FROM AUTHOR]
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
Academic Search Complete
Language:
English
Journal:
Sociology
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
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