The Suffragettes And The Suffragists!
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The suffragettes And The suffragists
The suffragettes (The Women’s Social And Political Union)
Watch out, this bunch can sting!
The suffragettes were founded by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903, a group who were prepared to take action to get women the vote, unlike the Suffragists. Emmeline had originally been a suffragist but was annoyed at their lack of progresss so she and her daughters, Christabel Pankhurst and Sylvia Pankhurst, who later started The Women's Suffrage Federation as protest against her mother's support for the World War I. They were the people who campaigned by chaining themselves to the railings outside of Buckingham Palace and who interrupted the political meetings of MPs. Other things they did to get the vote were marches, setting fires and commiting arson. They also stopped working and went on strikes, some of which were hunger strikes. They also tried to enter the house of commons which resulted in 24 arrests. An arrested suffragette in 1909 refused to eat so she was released. Other imprisoned suffragettes saw this as a chance and also refused to eat. Unfortunately, they were force fed instead. The suffragettes had a newspaper called 'The suffragette' but in October of 1915 its name was changed to 'Britannia'. Not all women supported the suffragettes though, an important example of this was Queen Victoria who did not agree with the action that was undertaken by the suffragettes. On that note, not all suffragettes were female, some were male. These suffragettes also took action, one attacking Winston Churchill on a train with a dog whip. The suffragettes won the vote for women in 1918 but only people who were thirty and householders or wives of householders were able to vote. This was partly due to the fact that a lot of jobs were given to the women while the men were fighting in the world war. The founder of the suffragettes, Emmeline Pankhurst died in 1928.
An example of a cover of 'The Suffragette' which changed to 'Brittania' in 1915.
The suffragists (The National Union Of Woman’s Suffrage)
Soft like a piece of cotton!
The suffragists were founded by Milicent Fawcett in 1897. They were trying to get the women's vote but were doing it in an ineffective way that may have eventually worked but would have taken a long time. The way they tried to get the vote was holding public meetings and holding petitions. They also had a newspaper and used propaganda, although it was not as effective as the propaganda that was being used by the suffragettes. They also had male supporters, such as Herbert Asquith, who was made prime minister in 1908. The union suspended all its work two days after the British declared war on Germany, until the war was over. In 1919, Millicent resigned as the president of the NUWSS and Rathbone took over.
A cartoon of A Woman's Suffrage Meeting, published in 'Punch Magazine' in 1911.
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