This caricature of the 'new woman' as a mechanical toy shows a version of 'rational dress', which evolved in protest against the tyranny of traditional physically-restricting fashions for women. The cigarette is another symbol of her emancipation. The Rational Dress Society had been founded in 1881 to campaign against:

any fashion in dress that either deforms the figure, impedes the movement of the body, or in any way intends to injure' and to 'promote the wearing by women of some form of bifurcated garment, especially for such active purposes as cycling, tennis, golf and other athletic exercises, walking tours, house-work and business purposes.