Suffragette: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:14, 21 November 2011

Term first coined in an article of the British newspaper the Daily Mail in 1906. This name was given to the members of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), which was founded in 1903 to promote equal voting rights for women.

Even though the term was first used to give a negative image to the more militant women’s suffrage movement, the new “Suffragettes” used the term for their own purposes. The leader of the Suffragettes was Emmeline Pankhurst who had founded the Women Franchise League in 1889. Because of the little effects of the WFL she founded the more radical WSPU in 1903. Unlike the early women’s rights activists, the “Suffragists”, the motto of the “Suffragettes” in campaigning for equal voting rights for women was “deeds, not words”. The Suffragettes wanted to call attention to the existing injustice due to more radical actions. They smashed shop windows in the streets of London and committed arson attacks. A number of Suffragettes were arrested by the police.

The Suffragettes stopped their campaigns and radical actions with the outbreak of the First World War in favor of the war effort. World War I brought a change in the question of political rights for women. In 1918, through the Representation of the People Act, men got universal suffrage. Some women got the right to vote as well (but they had to meet property qualifications). But while men were allowed to vote at the age of 21, women were not able to vote until they turned 30. Women did not gain completely equal voting rights until 1928.

Considering the relevance of the Suffragettes one has to keep in mind that people were anxious about women’s suffrage because they thought it would lead to crisis of traditional beliefs.

Sources:

Casciani, Dominic. "The History of the Suffragettes". 2. 10. 2003: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/3153388.stm

Maurer, Michael. Kleine Geschichte Englands. Aktualisierte und erweiterte Ausgabe. Stuttgart: Reclam, 2007.

British Library: http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/struggle/suffragettes1/suffragettes.html (on Suffragettes) and http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/struggle/suffrage1/suffragists.html (on Suffragists)

National Archives: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/britain1906to1918/g3/background.htm (The National Archives website provides several original sources to different topics concerning the women’s suffrage movement in Britain. You can also do your own “case studies”)

Parliament: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/parliamentary-archives/archives-highlights/archives-the-suffragettes/ (The website of the archive of the parliament includes original documents like letters or suffragette banners)

Tip: Watch the film “Suffragette City” in the eCafé on our Discussion Board!

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 Term first coined in an article of the British newspaper the ''Daily Mail'' in 1906. This name was given to the members of the [[Women's Social and Political Union]] (WSPU), which was founded in 1903 to promote equal voting rights for women.
-Even though the term was first used to give a negative image to the more militant women’s suffrage movement, the new “Suffragettes” used the term for their own purposes. The leader of the Suffragettes was Emmeline Pankhurst who had founded the Women Franchise League in 1889. Because of the little effects of the WFL she founded the more radical WSPU in 1903. Unlike the early women’s rights activists, the “Suffragists”, the motto of the “Suffragettes” in campaigning for equal voting rights for women was “deeds, not words”. The Suffragettes wanted to call attention to the existing injustice due to more radical actions. They smashed shop windows in the streets of London and committed arson attacks. A number of Suffragettes were arrested by the police.
+Even though the term was first used to give a negative image to the more militant women’s suffrage movement, the new “Suffragettes” used the term for their own purposes. The leader of the Suffragettes was [[Emmeline Pankhurst]] who had founded the Women Franchise League in 1889. Because of the little effects of the WFL she founded the more radical WSPU in 1903. Unlike the early women’s rights activists, the “Suffragists”, the motto of the “Suffragettes” in campaigning for equal voting rights for women was “deeds, not words”. The Suffragettes wanted to call attention to the existing injustice due to more radical actions. They smashed shop windows in the streets of London and committed arson attacks. A number of Suffragettes were arrested by the police.
 The Suffragettes stopped their campaigns and radical actions with the outbreak of the [[Great War|First World War]] in favor of the war effort. World War I brought a change in the question of political rights for women. In 1918, through the Representation of the People Act, men got universal suffrage. Some women got the right to vote as well (but they had to meet property qualifications). But while men were allowed to vote at the age of 21, women were not able to vote until they turned 30. Women did not gain completely equal voting rights until 1928.