Suffragists and suffragettes

• Women gained the right to divorce their husbands in 1857 thanks to the Matrimonial Causes Act
• Women gained rights over their own earnings and property in 1882 from the Married Women's Property Act
• Married women even won the right to vote in local elections from the Local Government Act 1894
• Suffragists


  Led by Millicent Fawcett, the NUWSS (National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies) continued the practice of peaceful lobbying and campaigning. It was founded in 1897.
• Suffragettes


  Led by Emmeline Pankhurst, the WSPU (Women's Social and Political Union) embraced more militant tactics, including disrupting meetings, property damage, and hunger strikes. It was founded in 1903.
• By 1908, suffragettes were embracing violence and property damage, leading to arrests and the introduction of the "Cat and Mouse Act"
• In 1913, the suffragists organized a peaceful pilgrimage of 50,000 women to London to express their determination to get the vote and their commitment to abide by the law
• The outbreak of World War I in 1914 transformed the political landscape, with both Fawcett and Pankhurst urging their followers to support the war effort
• Government close to giving women the vote in 1911


  Could not be seen to be giving in to violence
• Suffragettes


  • Made female suffrage front page news
  • Brought it to the attention of the public and the government
• NUWSS growing, WSPU getting smaller in 1913-1914

  Women turning away from the suffragettes
• Idea of votes for women seemed less strange over time


  Due to the suffragettes keeping the issue in peoples' minds
• Government feared other groups would turn to violence


  If the suffragettes got their way
• Asquith firmly against women having the vote

  Violence didn't make a difference
• Violence turned moderate men, especially MPs, against the cause


  Why it was always defeated in Parliament
• Decades of peaceful protest had not achieved anything


  Government only got serious once violence had started
• Violence gave the government the excuse


  Not to give into the suffragettes, could claim it was wrong to give into violence
• National Union of Women's Suffrage


  • Founded by Millicent Fawcett in 1897
  • Believed in peaceful protest
  • Felt violence would persuade men women could not be trusted to have the vote
• Women's Social and Political Union (Suffragettes)


  • Founded by Emmeline Pankhurst and daughters in 1903
  • Not prepared to wait, prepared to use violence
• Suffragettes' actions


  1. Interrupted political meetings

  2. Got out banners

  3. Shouted at politicians

  4. Thrown out and arrested

  5. Refused to pay fines, went to prison
• Suffragettes


  • Quite happy to go to prison
  • Refused to eat and went on a hunger strike
• Suffragettes going on hunger strike in prison


  Caused maximum discomfort to the authorities
• Cat and Mouse Act

  Allowed the Suffragettes to go on hunger strike and get weaker, then release them when very weak, then re-arrest them when they regained strength
• Emily quit teaching to work for the WSPU full-time in 1908
• On June 4th Emily attended the Epsom Derby where she ran out in front of King George V's horse Amner and was fatally injured


  1913
• Found in Emily's effects were two suffragette flags, the return stub of her railway ticket to London, her race card, a ticket to the WSPU Summer Festival at the Empress Rooms in Kensington later that day and a diary with appointments for the following week
• Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst considered that the threat posed by Germany was a danger to all humanity, and that the British government needed the support of all citizens. They persuaded the WSPU to halt all militant suffrage activities until fighting on the European mainland ended
• On 6th February the Representation of the People Act passed, allowing landowning women over the age of 30 to vote


  1918
• Both single and married women took on jobs during World War 1 to help the war effort
• Some people did not like the women working in the munitions factories because they thought they weren't skilled enough and were a threat
• Men found women a threat by taking their jobs whilst they were away at war

  Cheaper pay, same work
• Women earned 5 Shillings a week
• Women started working on farms in 1917
• Women's Land Army


  Group of women who farmed the land
• Roles women played in the Armed Services

  • WAAC - women’s army auxiliary Corps
  • WRAF
  • WRENS
• Former Prime Minister Asquith said 'how could we have carried out the war without [women]?' This helped explain why some women got the vote as it showed how useful women were
• Did she intend to kill herself? (Reasons for)

  • she never told anyone her plan
  • previously done dangerous things like throw herself down stairs
• Did Emily Davidson Intend to kill herself? (Against)

  • she practiced getting out the way
  • arranged to meet a friend after
  • return train ticket
  • has a placard saying “equal rights for women” under jacket
• What Jobs did the women do

  • Munition factory workers
  • farmers
  • nurse
  • drivers
• How did ww1 help women get the vote

  • shows they could do the same jobs as men
  • they seemed for serious and capable