Emmeline Pankhurst's Suffrage

"Describe the steps taken between 1832 and 1918 to extend the suffrage in England. What group and movements contributed to the extension of the vote?" Several groups, movements and reform bills passed between 1832 and 1918 extended the suffrage in England. The process took many years and the voting rights were first given to the wealthier and more distinguished men, then later to the less wealthy men, and finally to women. The major reform bills that extended the suffrage in England were the Reform Bill of 1832, 1867, and 1884, and the Qualification of Women Act in 1917. (Mazour, Peoples) The suffrage movement began in 1832 when the Reform Bill of 1832 was passed by parliment. The Prime Minister since 1830, Earl Grey, authored the Bill and

The journey of women’s suffrage beings with an aspired women named Alice Paul, who revolutionize the rights for women everywhere. Walton refers, how the inspiration all had flipped-the switch in Alice Paul when she heard speech on the “Votes for Women,” from a women named, Christabel Pankhurst, which was interrupted abruptly due to Christabel spitting in a police offers face, and being taken to jail. Walton refers to the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) as being seldom out of the news during the winter of 1907,

The Progressive Era was a time period where many new ideas and activities formed. The Progressive Era held many legacies but of those there are two that were the most important, woman suffrage and government reform.

One of the biggest changes in the late 1800’s was women earning the right to vote. This was a political change that shook the world upside down. Women banned together through several leaders such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucy Stone. With much effort they earned the right to vote in several states. The suffrage moment did not stop there so they pursued on in their movement. It was a valent moment and without it we would not have two female president candidates. Hillary Clinton as well as Carly Fiorina may even be working for women’s suffrage as they make history. For the women who were fighting to even vote to even imagine having a women president. In present day, more women vote than men. However

The most popular Canadian suffragettes was Dr. Emily Howard Stowe. At first she created a club called the Toronto Women’s Literary Club but later it was called the Toronto’s women’s suffrage association. Soon many more suffrage movements spread over Canada. Women all over Canada started to fight for their rights. Many were imprisoned but they kept fighting to achieve their rights. Women claimed that they should get the right to vote because they wanted to bring new ideas into politics and at the same time they felt inferior to men because they were excluded. Later on, the females become more politically active in the suffrage campaigns. “In 1897, 17 of these women’s suffrage groups came together to form the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).” Their way of protesting was rather peaceful, holding public meetings, writing letters to politicians. Later, in 1903 in Canada, when the suffrage movements started to get bigger, “The Women Social and Political Union” was founded. The movement became much more violent and the people were called the “The Suffragettes.” But when the World War happened the campaigns stopped and the women decided to help the men in battle. They spent time raising money for the war and knitting clothes for the soldiers. After the war ended the women gained more respect from the men and attained more freedom around the house. Furthermore, the

The Progressive Era, from the late nineteenth century through the early twentieth century (1898-1919), was a time when women were learning and adjusting to the differences in America. Women had different goals they wanted to achieve. Women from different classes had different targets that they strived for. Some women wanted to be equals with all people and have the rights that they deserved to have. Others just tried to make life better and happier for themselves and their family.

The movement for women’s suffrage began well before the Progressive Era, in in the 1820’s, when women joined groups that wanted reforms. This was a difficult time for women to have a voice because they were mainly seen as property and should

Women had no political or social rights in the early 1900’s. They were expected to stay home and take care of the children while the husband was off to work to bring in the weekly earnings. Single women worked as waitresses, cooks, and maids. Young women were required to get married and bear children in their late teens. The derogatory term “spinster” held a negative meaning that referred to women that were not good enough to get married to an honorable man.

In 1908 Herbert Asquith, replaced Cambell Bannerman as prime minister, Asquith was against women’s suffrage. This change caused the WSPU to intensify their militant methods they broke windows and threw stones. Mrs Fawcett, who had once praised the movement for the advancements it made to the suffrage cause, condemned these violent methods. Causing the WSPU to become further alienated. In 1909 as the arrests for these and such offence increased the WSPU campaigners who were imprisoned began to go on hunger strike, after a few months the prisons began force-feeding the women. This was a very dangerous process involving a 4 ft. long tube being forced down the woman’s throat.

Women were treated unfairly from men just solely based on the fact that they are women because women were thought of as weak at the time . However, women wanted to fight and break the stereotype to show that they can more than what society makes them out to be. Events like the involvement of America during World War 1 and women role during the war is what also pushed women movement in various ways but also showing their importance in the American society. The​ ​fight​ ​and struggle​ ​took​ ​years​ ​but​ ​1900’s​ ​​ ​is​ ​when​ ​the​ ​women​ ​suffrage​ ​movement​ ​really​ ​took​ ​off​ ​for American​ ​women and by the 1920 they white women had the right to vote. The role of women changed drastically in 1920s several

The struggle to gain suffrage was not easy: anti-suffragists and the gender norms of society constantly interfered, leading to nearly a century-long battle of rights. Unlike preconceived notions about the suffrage movements of the nineteenth century, not all women wanted to obtain suffrage and women 's organizations weren 't always focused on the right to vote itself, but rather were radical. Change and new leadership were needed to refocus and improve women 's suffrage organizations in order to win against their enemy: the indifference of American women. "The Suffrage Renaissance: A New Image for a New Century, 1896-1910", written by Sara Hunter Graham, challenges those initial ideas and provides insight about how woman suffrage movements evolved. As the nineteenth century came to a close, the unification and rebirth of woman suffrage groups became crucial changes that led to obtaining suffrage.

Some scholars like Ellen DuBois, in The Radicalism of the Woman Suffrage Movement, argue that the vote was a complete necessity in order for women to assert their own foothold in the public sphere, defined by DuBois as “operating in the public world of work and politics.” Opposing this position, William O’Neill argued that the vote would provide no advance in the woman condition and that when the vote was gained, “feminists were in the same place they were before the movement even began.” Heidi Williamson does not necessarily take a side in this argument but she does proclaim that “voting ensures women’s reproductive and economic progress” because it causes candidates running for office to “cater” to the women condition in order to gain more support. As Williamson is simply observing what the vote did for women, and she does not speak to what the Women’s Movement hoped to attain, she does not intervene in the discussion between DuBois and O’Neill; however, using the premise of Williamson’s observations it is clear that women of the early twentieth century were motivated by the discrimination in the workplace to gain their right to ballot so that they could use the vote to strive for pay equality, a better environment in the workplace, and gain the possibility to advance their position in said environment.

One of them was Sojourner Truth. Her contribution in both movements was conspicuous. Born into slavery, she managed to escape and become a anti slavery speaker and activist. She was a highly visible figure and spoke at the first national women’s rights convention in 1850, and in 1851 delivered her most famous speech known as “Ain’t i a woman?”4 at the Akron women’s rights convention. Her main assessment was that excluding black women from the suffrage movement would just delay rights achievement for all women. She would also continually remind her allies in the abolitionist movement that black women were half the slave population, and that without changing the conditions of all women’s oppression, there would not be a complete Freedom for African

The enemy of suffrage was the fear of change. According to Emiline Pankhurst, "Although England is a so called 'democracy, ' it is one of the most conservative countries on earth."(pankhurst). As someone fighting for suffrage, Pankhurst saw such conservatism as a negative quality in a government. Women in the twentieth century had made great strides since the colonial days, but they were still expected to be docile and submissive to men, and to be homemakers, since that was how it always had been. At this point, women were not only homemakers though, and middle class white women were often involved in political endeavors such as running charity work. Women were beginning to prove themselves capable of anything men could do, but while women proved their equal capabilities to men, they had yet to

Social change in Britain has been achieved primarily through the hard work of organized political groups. These groups created events to recruit and educate supporters of social equality to join them in fighting for progress. The Women’s Suffrage Movement between 1866 and 1928 in Britain is no exception to this trend. The reason for the great efficacy of these political groups, including the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies and the Women’s Social and Political Union, was the women who pioneered the groups and fought alongside them to create the change that they believed in. The goal of these political groups was finally realized in 1928 with the passing of the Representation of the People Act. However, the Women’s Suffrage Movement in Britain would not have been successful without the influential actions of several significant women. In addition to the overall necessity of female leadership for British Women’s Suffrage, the central efforts of Millicent Fawcett, Lydia Becker, and Emmeline Pankhurst particularly played a large role in the movement’s success.