Suffragettes Question 2

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Votes For Women

Ravi Desai 10V

Question 2:

Describe the ways in which the methods of the Suffragists and Suffragettes were different

The Suffragists were formed in the 1850’s and in 1897 the National Union of Women’s Suffrage (NUWSS) was formed. They campaigned to win the right to vote for women. They used peaceful methods to get what they needed such as demonstrations, marches, speeches in large crowds, petitions; they supported the MPs that supported the women in getting the right to vote and the use of their own newspaper which was known as ‘Voiceless London’. They believed in peaceful methods because they wanted to show that women have the same logical capacity as men and they also wanted to secure the vote by non-violent means as opposed to the way men secured the vote. The main reason was to gain the respect of middle class men and politicians to show they were law abiding citizens who could participate and contribute to politics and the governing of the United Kingdom. The women’s suffrage bills were rejected 15 times, because if any parliament member objects to the right to give women the vote he could talk it out as they were private member mills. By 1900, over 50% of MPs supported women’s suffrage and they managed to introduce a number of bills for women’s suffrage in the House of Commons, but the government prevented the bills becoming law.

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Some women couldn’t tolerate the tactics used by the NUWSS. They thought they were too peaceful and nothing could be gained out of it and the media didn’t notice their campaign so the public also ignored it. In 1903, a lady called Emmeline Pankhurst created a breakaway group called Woman’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) also known as the suffragettes.

Suffragettes used more violent ways compared to the suffragists and they also wanted to campaign for better working and living conditions for women. Their methods included the use of their own newspaper, ‘heckling’ MPs at meetings, attacking MPs physically, ...

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