Women in politics

(taken from a textbook in class!)

Until 1918 women did not get the vote. Women were not believed to have the same intellegence as men, and also were thought to be very busy looking after children and doing housework.

 However, some women wanted to change these ideas...

In 1850 the campaign to win the vote began, but by 1870 a mass movement started. Millicent Fawcett started the Suffragists who held meetings all over the country to discuss and give evidence for votes for women. Between 1877 and 1878 there were 1,300 meetings. In 1890 a national organisation called NUWSS led by Millicent Fawcett was started, which believed in peaceful methods of campaigning. Fawcett didnt want violence and didnt want to adopt the same methods "that men have done when they wanted the laws altered". The Suffragists arranged meetings, signed petitions and supported anyone who agreed with their ideas.

Many people grew impatient with the Suffragists peaceful tactics to get the vote, and believed that it was not going to work.

Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Suffragettes with her two daughters in the late 18th/early 19th century, and their violent methods have made them a famous women's rights movement. Many people were shocked at the behaviour, still expecting women to be quiet and obedient. But this time the papers took notice and the plight of the Suffragettes was highly publicised. Parliament was forced to debate the issue many times and each time they did the suffragettes would mount a demonstration. They refused to pay fines, preferring to go to prison. Once in Prison they would go on hunger strike, to die as martyrs of the cause. This led to the 1913 Cat and Mouse act where the government would release the women from prison when they were weak from starvation and rearrest them when they grew stronger. In 1913 Emily Davidson threw herself under the Kings horse at the derby in protest for the vote. This was met with anger at the audacity of her stunt and demanded her execution. However, she died in hospital later that day.

Many people believed that the Government overreacted to the Suffragettes, as often they were arrested for simply holding meetings, and then force feeding them in prison which seemed unnecessary. The Suffragists disapproved of the Suffragettes violent methods but admired their courage.