women’s rights

• What is a suffragist

  National union of women's sufferage societies, a collection of middle class women who believed in using peaceful methods, such as meetings, speeches, posters and letters to achieve the vote
• What is a suffragette

  A more militant group of women, who split form the NUWSS, who focused on "deeds not words" to achieve the vote for women
• What was the June 1866 petition


  - 1500 women

  - presented by Kensington society
• What was the London national society for women's suffrage

  - formed in 1867

  - inspired by Henry hunt and Mary Wollstonecraft

  - encouraged by Chartism, anti-corn law league and abolition
• Who was John Stuart Mill?

  - utilitarian philosopher and economist

  - presented 1866 petition to parliament

  - argues an absence of women in politics left their interests ignored and position exploited

  - recieved 73 votes
• Who was William Gladstone?

  Whig British prime minster who wanted to extend vote for all men - failed and split liberals
• Who was Benjamin Disraeli?

  - British conservative leader took the initiative of granting the right to vote to working class men in 1867

  - wanted to embarrass liberals

  - extended mills petition
• What was the act for women in 1870


  Married women's property act - could control income and property even after marriage
• When was the NUWSS formed?

  1897
• Who was Millicent Fawcett?

  - wife of liberal mp

  - bought all suffrage groups together to form NUWSS
• Who was Emeline Pankhurst?

  - member of Manchester's NUWSS

  - emeline and daughters formed WSPU in 1903
• Who were the Pankhursts?

  - middle class

  - husband Richard Pankhurst was a lawyer who wrote married women's property act
• What is the women's freedom league

  - pacifists group

  - broke away from wspu in 1907
• What jobs did women do during the war?

  Factories, postal, bus conductors
• What was 'give peace a chance'

  - NUWSS tried lobby mps, be good orators, create petitions + pamphlets

  - many viewed their tactics as easy to ignore

  - when the government decided not to extend the franchise in 1912 the NUWSS had a pilgrimage joined by thousands from Carlisle to London
• What was 'we need change now'

  -"deeds not words"

  -initially supported by pm (Campbell-bannerman) who was liberal and told women to pester the government and not show patience

  - heckled MPs and stood outside parliament

  - arson attacks
• What was the 1912 suffragettes campaign

  - stone throwing campaign

  - 100s of windows smashes

  - 200+ arrested

  - court cases bought publicity
• What was 'derby day'

  At derby horse race in 1913 the kings horse was bought to the ground by emily Davidson. She died of her wounds in hospital and was first martyr of suffrage movement. Argument on wether it was intended suicide, to if she was trying to stick a suffragette rosette on the horse as she bought a return ticket home
• What was 'the cat and mouse act'

  - suffragettes in prison went on hunger strikes to gain publicity

  - government knew they couldn't have women dying

  - had middle class fathers and husbands

  - prison guards initially tried to force feed the women - could lead to disability and death
• How did the government deal with 'the cat and mouse act'

  Passes 1913 prison act which temporarily discharged women if too weak. Once they were rehabilitated they were rearrested
• What were 'the angels of the factories'

  - in 1914 the NUWSS + WSPU united

  - suffragettes stopped militant tactics and worked in factories

  - proved women could be clear headed and were intelligent in abilities to look after families, run homes and do men's jobs
• Impact of WW1 on women

  - waged were 1/2 of men

  - Asquith was replaced with sympathetic Lloyd George in 1915

  - by 1914 7.7 million people had the vote, by 1918 it was 21.4 million and 39% were women

  - by 1928 universal suffrage was achieved
• What did campaigners in the 1960s want

  Equal pay, 24 hour child care, free contraception and abortion on demand
• What acts were passed post 1960

  - abortion act 1967

  - equal pay act 1970

  - employment protection act 1975 - illegal to sack a pregnant women
• Who was the first female mp?

  Nancy Astor in 1919
• When did women achieve 10% of seats in parliament

  1997
• Who was Margret Thatcher?

  First female prime minster in 1779 - not another female PM until Theresa may in 2016
• What happened between 1981-2002

  - greenham common anti missiles protest and peace camp

  - in 1983 70,000 women made a 14 mile human chain

  - by 1991 the cruise missiles were taken back to the US
• When did the women at ford factory Dagenham go on strike

  -7th June 1968

  -didn't have support from trade union

  -work as sewing machinists was named unskilled

  -got 85% wage of men

  -after 3 weeks wage was raised to 92% of men's
• What was the equal pay act 1970

  Made illegal to discriminate against women doing same job in same conditions as men, even today women earn on average 8% less than men