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Many women actually belonged to
both organisations and even though
the suffragettes and suffragists had
very different ways of tackling sexism,
they did also collaborate with one
another to fight for the cause.
DECIDE HOW FAR YOU ARE PREPARED TO GO
Some suffragettes eventually resorted to arson, and even bombings. There
were hundreds of attacks on places like shops, railway stations and post
offices. A valuable painting in the National Gallery was slashed and some
churches were badly damaged by fire (because the Church of England didn’t
support their movement). In 1913 the tearooms and an orchid house in Kew
Gardens were destroyed by fire. The previous year, in Dublin, suffragettes had
attempted to set fire to a theatre full of people (in which they had planted a
container of gunpowder), because the prime minister was attending.
EXTREME MEASURES
Campaigners for votes for women were often victims of
violence themselves. The suffragettes deliberately broke
the law and regularly found themselves in prison, where
some refused to eat. As a result, they were force-fed. The
process consisted of being held down, having a tube
inserted into your throat and liquid food poured down into
your stomach. This was not only unpleasant, degrading
and painful, it was also very dangerous. Food sometimes
TaKe iT FuRtHeR:
Do you think prison
authorities were right
to force-feed their
prisoners?
What alternatives did
got into the lungs and that could cause serious illness.
they have?
YOU DON’T NEED TO BE FEMALE
There were men both inside and outside parliament who
supported the women’s cause, and there was a Men’s
TaKe iT FuRtHeR:
League for Women’s Suffrage. One MP resigned so that
Why do you think the
when the new election for his seat was held he could make
suffragettes decided to use
his campaign about allowing women to vote.
violence to achieve equal
Unfortunately, the plan backfired and he lost. A young
voting rights with men?
Do you think their methods
were justified?
Winston Churchill initially backed the idea of votes for
women, but eventually withdrew his support because of
the violent actions of the suffragettes.
WAR CHANGED EVERYTHING
When the First World War broke out in 1914, Emmeline Pankhurst ordered her
members to stop their protests and do what they could to help the country.
Because so many men were away fighting in the army, women all over the
country showed they could perform all kinds of jobs perfectly well. This, along
with the ending of the suffragettes’ violent acts and their support of the war
effort, helped to speed up the process of women’s suffrage. However, other
people argue that politicians could not face a return to suffragette violence
after the war and that is how women finally got the vote.
The war ended in 1918, a hundred years ago this year, and it was finally decided
to allow women to vote – but the battle wasn’t over. The new law only applied
to females who were over the age of 30 and from wealthier families. This was
less than half of all women. It wasn’t until 1928 that all women in the United
Kingdom from the age of 21 were finally given the same voting rights as men.
How far would you have gone? Would a quieter, more
peaceful campaign have taken too long to work? Would it
have worked at all? Did the actions of suffragettes speed
up women getting the vote, or hold it back?
Would you have been a suffragette, or suffragist? Why not
write to us at the usual address and tell us what you think.
Illustration:
FuN FaCt tRuMpEt