Suffragette with banner, Washington D.C., 1918.
Suffragette is a term originally coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for the more radical and militant members of the late-19th and early-20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). However, after former and then active members of the movement began to adopt it, the term became a label without negative connotations. It derives from the word "suffrage", meaning the right to vote.
Suffragist is a more general term for members of suffrage movements, whether radical or conservative, male or female. American campaigners preferred this more inclusive title, while those Americans hostile to women's suffrage used "suffragette" as a pejorative, emphasizing its feminine "-ette" ending.[citation needed] In Britain, "suffragist" is generally used solely to identify members of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).
The Suffragettes wanted the right for women to vote. The move for women to have the vote had really started in 1897 when Millicent Fawcett founded the National Union of Women's Suffrage. "Suffrage" means the right to vote and that is what women wanted - hence its inclusion in Fawcett's title.
Millicent Fawcett believed in peaceful protest. She felt that any violence or trouble would persuade men that women could not be trusted to have the right to vote. Her game plan was patience and logical arguments. Fawcett argued that women could hold responsible posts in society such as sitting on school boards - but could not be trusted to vote; she argued that if parliament made laws and if women had to obey those laws, then women should be part of the process of making those laws; she argued that as women had to pay taxes as men, they should have the same rights as men and one of her most powerful arguments was that wealthy mistresses of large manors and estates employed gardeners, workmen and labourers who could vote........but the women could not regardless of their wealth.....
However, Fawcett's progress was very slow. She converted some of the members of the Labour Representation Committee (soon to be the Labour Party) but most men in Parliament believed that women simply would not understand how Parliament worked and therefore should not take part in the electoral process. This left many women angry and in 1903 the Women's Social and Political Union was founded by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia. They wanted women to have the right to vote and they were not prepared to wait. The Union became better known as the Suffragettes. Members of the Suffragettes were prepared to use violence to get what they wanted.
Origins of women's suffrage movements
We can identify 3 main intellectual traditions in British feminism: A] the Enlightenment, B] Evangelical Christianity and C] socialism. Each contributed to feminist ideology and the movement, but these disparate traditions divided as well as united feminists. Each stream had different aims and different perceptions of the genders- roles in society. Alliances were also formed with other social movements of the time, such as anti-slavery, contraceptive reform and social welfare. Though the suffrage issue had been alive in Britain since the 1860s, it was not until the early 20th century when a coalition of suffragists, women-s social welfare organisations and temperance groups started to influence politicians. Fawcett's progress was very slow. She converted some of the members of the Labour Representation Committee (soon to be the Labour Party) but most men in Parliament believed that The woman's suffrage movement was one primarily run by working-class women. These women were frustrated by their social and economic situation and sought for an outlet through which to initiate change. Their struggles for change within society, along with the work of such advocates for women-s rights as John Stuart Mill, were enough to spearhead a movement that would encompass mass groups of women fighting for suffrage. Mill had first brought the idea of women-s suffrage up in the platform he presented to British electors in 1865.[1] He would later be joined by numerous men and women fighting for the same cause.
Some historians feel that the suffragists actions actually damaged their cause. The argument was that the suffragettes should not get the vote because they were too emotional and could not think as logically as men. Their violent actions were used as evidence in support of this argument[citation needed].
The greatest advances for women were not in Britain. New Zealand was the first self-governing country in the world to grant women the vote. In 1893, all women over the age of 21 were permitted to vote in parliamentary elections.[2]. In 1894, South Australia became the first place in the world to grant women the right to stand for Parliament. South Australian success at the state level was followed by victories in Western Australia 1899, NSW in 1902, Tasmania in 1903, Queensland in 1904, and finally Victoria in 1908. The federal franchise was extended to all white Australian women aged 21 in 1902.
Early 20th-century suffrage movements
Suffragettes carried out direct action such as chaining themselves to railings, setting fire to mailbox contents, smashing windows and on occasions setting off bombs. One suffragette, Emily Davison, died after she stepped out in front of the King's horse, Anmer, at the Epsom Derby of 1913. Many of her fellow suffragettes were imprisoned and went on hunger strikes, during which they were restrained and forcibly fed and had reached the height of their campaign by 1912.
The so-called Cat and Mouse Act was passed by the British government to prevent suffragettes from obtaining public sympathy; it provided the release of those whose hunger strikes had brought them sickness, as well as their re-imprisonment once they had recovered.
Nevertheless, protests continued on both sides of the Atlantic. Alice Paul and Lucy Burns led a series of protests against the Wilson Administration in Washington that referred to "Kaiser Wilson" and compared the plight of the German people with that of American women (see picture).
During World War I, a serious shortage of able-bodied men ("manpower") occurred, and women were required to take on many of the traditional male roles. This led to a new view of what a woman was capable of doing. The war also caused a split in the British suffragette movement, with the mainstream, represented by Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst's Women's Social and Political Union, calling a 'ceasefire' in their campaign for the duration of the war, while more radical suffragettes, represented by Sylvia Pankhurst's Women's Suffrage Federation continued the struggle.
Political movement towards women's suffrage began during the war and in 1918, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed an act (the Representation of the People Act 1918) granting the vote to: women over the age of 30 who were householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5, and graduates of British universities. The right to vote of American women was codified in the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920. Finally, women in the United Kingdom achieved suffrage on the same terms as men in 1928.
Notable suffragettes
United Kingdom
Australia
USA
New Zealand
See also
Notes
References
- Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (New York: Merriam Webster, 1983) ISBN 0-87779-511-8
- Suffragettes versus Suffragists - website comparing aims and methods of Women-s Social and Political Union (Suffragettes) to National Union of Women-s Suffrage Societies (Suffragists)
- Suffragists vs. Suffragettes - brief article outlining origins of term "suffragette", usage of term and links to other sources.
- Melanie Phillips. The Ascent of Woman: A History of the Suffragette Movement.
External links
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