Assess the importance of an individual had on the struggle for women’s rights

After 1906 it was clear that non-militant tactics were not working. Emmiline and the WPPU started to use violence. This gave the movement the publicity they wanted to get their message across.

“The argument of the broken plane is the most valuable argument in modern politics,” Emmiline declared in 1912. What lay behind that declaration was years of increasing militancy and violence.

After the death of her husband in 1898 she volunteered her services to the independent labour party. In 1903 she became frustrated with the parties timidity on the subject of women being given the right to vote. Because of this she created the Women’s Social and Political Union I Manchester.

Emmiline Pankurst was one of the most influential figureheads while women were campaigning. She had an extremely important role in getting the vote.

I think that if she had not been alive women still would have won the right to vote. I think that I would have just taken longer. Women’s winning the right to vote was inevitable because women were campaigning all around the world. If the women in the rest of the world won the vote then that would have put tremendous pressure on the government to give them the vote in this country too.