How Successful Were The Suffragettes

Before the Suffragettes, women were not able to vote and the move for women to have the right to vote really started in 1897 when Millicent Fawcett founded the National Union of Women’s Suffrage. Fawcett strongly believed that women should have the right to vote but also believed in peaceful protests, patience and logical arguments. She felt that if any violence occurred then men would believe that women could not be trusted and therefore should not have the right to vote. She also made the argument that if women were made responsible for sitting on school boards and paying taxes that they should be part of the process to make the laws and should have the same rights as men. A main argument of hers was that even though some women who were wealthy mistresses of large manors and estates employed gardeners, workmen and labourers who were able to vote but women still could not, regardless of their wealth and social class. However, the progress of Fawcett was very slow and although she converted some of the members of the Labour Representation Committee (The Labour Party) but the majority of men felt that women would not understand how parliament functioned and therefore should not take part in the electoral

In 1905, the Suffragists held meetings in run up to elections. In 1910 the NUWSS raised a petition and managed to get a staggering 280,000 signatures. Before World War I there were another group called the Suffragettes, they were known for their violence and destruction. In October 1903, a woman called Emmeline Panhurst set up a new society called WSPU, which stood for 'Women's Social and Political Union'. Also known as the Suffragettes.

In the 1800’s, society held women back from doing certain activities, having certain jobs and having the same rights as men. “While there were often not specific legal restrictions circumscribing the activities of women, the social restrictions were quite pervasive.” “Social norms, then, prevented women from many activities, even though there were no overt laws stating a women could not be a doctor, for example.” The women’s suffrage movement connects to the Enlightenment era because many of the philosophers talked about men creating

Before 1918, women were considered to be very much within their own sphere of influence separate from men. Throughout the 19th century women had slowly been gaining voting privileges, but only in areas considered to be within their spheres such as the vote for school boards, the vote for poor law boards and the vote for county councils. Traditionally many historians have argued that the main reason for the enfranchisement of women in 1918 was their work during world war one. This view is being disputed on multiple levels; some argue that the war itself called for a rearrangement of the whole electoral system. Alternatively other historians argue that the work of the women's suffrage workers such as the suffragist's and the suffragettes,

The battle for suffrage was a long and slow process. Many women tried to initiate the fight for suffrage, like Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. “These were the New Suffragists: women who were better educated, more career-oriented, younger, less apt to be married and more cosmopolitan than their previous generation.” (pg 17) Eventually, in 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified; allowing women to vote, but it was not any one person or event that achieved this great feat. It was the confluence of certain necessary factors, the picketing and parades led by Alice Paul, militaristic suffrage parties and the influence of the media that caused the suffrage amendment to be passed and ratified in 1920. But most importantly, they successfully moved both

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many European women were still struggling for basic rights such as choosing who they married, obtaining full citizenship and having the right to vote. Because so many women were fighting for the same thing, many formed groups or alliances that were designed to fight against the male-driven political parties that wanted to deny them their rights. As the “woman question” became a bigger deal in politics and society, people began to form stronger opinions about whether or not they thought women should be allowed to vote. The eighteenth century in Europe began a revolution on the topic of women’s suffrage. An overwhelming amount of feminist groups argued for women’s suffrage and fought against

World War I also provided women with the means to finally achieve suffrage. Groups such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association, led by Carrie Chapman Catt, enthusiastically joined the war effort, thereby intertwining patriotism and women’s rights. After the House of Representatives passed the women’s suffrage amendment in January 1918, President Wilson told the nation, “We have made partners of the women in this war. Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?” (James and Wells, 67-68). True political equality did not result from the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment—very few female candidates were elected in the 1920s—but, in the words of Allen, “the winning of the suffrage had its effect. It consolidated woman’s position as man’s equal” (96).

Up until the 1920s, women’s struggle for their right to vote seemed to be a futile one. They had been fighting for their suffrage for a long time, starting numerous women's rights movements and abolitionist activists groups to achieve their goal. “The campaign for women’s suffrage began in earnest in the decades before the Civil War. During the 1820s and 30s, most states had enfranchised almost all white males (“The Fight for Women's Suffrage” ). This sparked women to play a more emphatic role in society. They began to participate in anti-slavery organizations, religious movements, and even meetings where they discussed that when the Constitution states "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain

Women were trying to get the vote for many years before 1900, however this was not a serious concern and they were not doing much to achieve this. However in 1900 this all changed. The NUWSS (Suffragists) and the WSPU (Suffragettes) were set up in the early years of 1900; their goal was to allow women to get the vote. Their reason was that women were already allowed to work on city councils and become doctors, some notable ones too such as Florence Nightingale. The NUWSS believed that if women were house owners and had respectable jobs they should be allowed to vote. This is because men who were allowed to vote could be white slave owners and lunatics so why could these men vote and

In this source, the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), or suffragists, appeal for women to be given the vote. From this source, some of the aims of the NUWSS and their methods for gathering support are evident, and something can be inferred of the type of opposition being faced by the suffragists in their fight for suffrage.

In 1914, when war was declared, the suffragettes dropped their violent tactics to show their patriotism. Women were set to work in their husband's places and this process later

Women’s reactions to the war were divided among themselves. Though there were women championing the cause of WWI, there were others who opposed to the idea of a war. Right up to the outbreak of World War I, feminists on both sides pledged themselves to peace, in international women's solidarity. Within months of the war's outbreak, however, all the major feminist groups of the belligerents had given a new pledge - to “support their respective governments.” Campaigners for women's suffrage quickly became avid patriots and organizers of women in support of the war effort. National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), a leader in women’s right in Britain, championed the cause of WWI; through their collective efforts, NUWSS pressed for political

The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) was an organization found by Emmeline Pankhurst their purpose was to campaign women’s suffrage in the United Kingdom as this lasted from 1903 to 1917. The Women’s Social and Political Union was

This investigation assesses the question: To what extent did the First World War lead to the accomplishment of the women’s suffrage movement of Britain in 1928?

The year was 1912 in London, England. Women lived at the mercy of their fathers, brothers, husbands and bosses; clearly a patriarchal society. Women’s lives consisted of keeping house and raising children and caring for their families. Those who worked outside of the home were limited to menial labor, earned significantly less than men, and surrendered their earnings to their husbands. Any inheritance of real estate or money a woman may have received was given to her husband and, most often, she had nothing to say about how it was managed or spent. A woman could not vote or run for office, and received little support, should she desire an education other than a ‘finishing school.’ (Clearly,