The Suffragettes.

1) Some women by the end of the nineteenth century decided that they should have the right to vote. Here are just a few of the reasons they gave why they should be allowed to vote:

Women had as much right to vote as men.
Votes for women had already been introduced in other parts of the world e.g. USA.
Some women (since 1888) already had the right to vote in local elections. Why not in parliamentary elections too?
Modern women were more independent and educated than women used to be.
It would be democratic to let women vote.
The Suffragettes put all those points forward to the government and also had many protests which usually involved physical violence and/or vandalism to make their points clear to the country.

Franchise. Means to have the right to vote in public elections.
Suffrage. Means the right to vote in political elections
Emancipation. To be able to liberate free from re-straint.
Militant. A person who is prepared to take aggressive action.

3) Women who campaigned for the right to vote were called suffragettes because suffrage meant to have the right to vote in political elections and that was what all the women who were in the suffragettes wanted so the name explains itself.

The Aims of the Suffragettes.

1A) The point is fairly straightforward in this poster. A supporter or member of the suffragettes would have made the poster. The poster says in bold writing WHAT A WOMEN MAY BE AND YET NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE. Then below are 10 pictures. Five of women and what important jobs they can get e.g. mayor e.t.c. Below the five pictures of the well-educated women, are five pictures of men that are allowed to vote but the men are all useless e.g. lunatic e.t.c. The point the women are putting forward is that a man convict can vote but a female nurse cant, why? This is one of the many reasons the women had to campaign to get the right to vote in political elections.

1B) This poster also is in favour of the Suffragettes; it shows 3 people inside a locked pen. In front of the pen stands a big sign saying Convicts And Lunatics have no vote for parliament should all women be classed with these? The 3 people in the pen area a well-educated lady, a lunatic and a convict. This poster argues the point that women are not being treated equally, due to the sexist views of parliament at the time.

Opposition to women’s suffrage.

2. The two cartoons are trying to give the impression that the suffragettes should not be given the vote.

The first cartoon is a picture of 5 ugly looking women; the text next to the picture says SUFFRAGETTES who have never been kissed. The poster gives the impression that the only women who would vote would be women who are ugly, single, upper-middle class and women who have no lives and that is why they want to be able to vote.

This is a preview of the whole essay

In the lower cartoon men are watching women suffragettes march past them waving flags saying ‘votes for women.’ Again they appear to be upper and middle class women-women who were not expected to work. The impression I get from the cartoon is that the men are humouring the women. It appears that the women are getting worked up about nothing. The text in the cartoon read ‘Votes or Death’ the women are trying to scare the man and use violet tactic to scare the men into allowing the women to be able to vote. But the men especially the police officers look very amused and are laughing at the suffragettes. At the end of the text it reads ‘And the boldest held his breath for a time.’ Indicating that the suffragettes are just a bunch of upper class women being occupied by a phase. Another argument for men in this poster is also that the women used violent tactics this proved that they didn’t deserve the vote at all.

How women drew attention to their cause.

3A) Women drew attention to their cause in various ways. Mary Aldham and Ethel Cox were both prime examples of women using violence to prove their point. They caused mass damage on several occasions even going as far as breaking the windows at the residence of the home secretary. Both ladies were convicted for damage on several occasions. They drew special attention to the Suffragettes; this is what they wanted to become noticed in the public eye. Other unmentioned suffragettes have caused damage to many places of mass importance. The most famous stunt ever pulled off by a women suffragette was Emily Davison who was killed while protesting in a dangerous manner (but I while explain that in depth later.) So the main way many Suffragettes drew attention towards themselves was violence, but was this the right way to gain the vote? The men could then argue that the behaviour of the women didn’t give them the right to vote and also they are technically convicts, who weren’t allowed to vote anyway.

3B) Women used a various range of methods to draw attention towards their cause. Violence was clearly the most publicized and frequent method of campaigning. But other method the suffragettes used included:

Public rallies and campaigns
Posters and cartoons
Political meetings and leaflets
Banners and shouting
Hunger strikes (the cat and mouse act)

Derby Day 1913.

4A) There are two pieces of proof that Emily Davison did not intend to commit suicide. The first point being she had traveled that day to the races at Epsom by rail and among her possessions the police found one half of a ticket for the return journey home. So Emily had obviously intended to go home after pulling off the stunt. The second piece of proof is word of mouth. Esther Knowles a friend of Emily Davison commented. ‘ I don’t think it was suicide, but she knew it was a terrible risk – a 99% risk.

The reason Emily did stunt was to gain attention in the media for the suffragettes cause because the Derby wasn’t just a horse race it was an event of social importance and a race where society’s elite turned up (including the royal family.)

Emily Davison suffered terrible injuries at this race and never recovered from them. She died in a local hospital four days after the race.

4B) Publicity stunt means something unusual o difficult as a performance done in front of a crowd to gain attention.

4C) There is some evidence in the second extract that Emily Davison was ‘unbalanced.’ Her friend in the second extract commented. ‘ She had very starring eyes and I used to say to Mary, a fellow office kid, that she was unbalanced.’ So even Emily’s friends admitted she was unbalanced. By saying this she meant that Emily was mentally unsound. Even though she was a clever girl and had got many degrees and things she wasn’t quite right in the head somewhere.

4D) Emily Davison’s actions caused her own death, the death of a horse and injury to another human being (the jockey.) In my opinion I believe her publicity stunt not to be worthwhile. She willing put her life and another human beings life at risk and killed an animal. This woman wasn’t helping a cause she just caused a huge scene and lost her life. The protest was cruel on the jockey and horse too, what had the jockey or horse ever done to stop woman voting. Emily made her point but at the loss of her life, surely just to be able to vote in general elections isn’t a cause worth killing yourself for. The affair distressed many people and was a vile way to obtain publicity.

How the government treated the Suffragettes.

5A) In this poster a police officer is arresting Mrs. Pankhurst the leader of the women’s social and political union. Mrs. Pankhurst was well known to be causing trouble and using violent methods to get the governments attention. Mrs. Pankhurst started the women’s social and political party in 1903, the Suffragettes started off relatively peacefully. But the Suffragettes refused to bow to violence. This was because in 1913 the government withdrew a bill to alter the voting system. The suffragettes felt betrayed and began to use more violent methods. They burned down churches as the Church of England was against what they wanted; they vandalised Oxford Street, apparently breaking all the windows in this famous street; they chained themselves to Buckingham Palace as the Royal Family were seen to be against women having the right to vote; they hired out boats, sailed up the Thames and shouted abuse through loud hailers at Parliament as it sat; others refused to pay their tax. Politicians were attacked as they went to work. They homes were fire bombed. Golf courses were vandalised. The first decade of Britain in the C20th was proving to be violent in the extreme.

Suffragettes were quite happy to go to prison. Here they refused to eat and went on a hunger strike. The government was very concerned that they might die in prison thus giving the movement martyrs. Prison governors were ordered to force feed Suffragettes but this caused a public outcry as forced feeding was traditionally used to feed lunatics as opposed to what were mostly educated women.

So in this poster Mrs. Pankhurst is probably being arrest for committing one of the many violent crimes she committed or condoned.

5B) The doctor is the second cartoon is feeding an imprisoned suffragette through her nose. The treatment was necessary because many of the imprisoned suffragettes refused to eat as their way of protesting, so to keep many of the suffragettes alive the doctors and nurses had to feed them liquid food up their noses. The process was very painful, but many suffragettes were willing to do this. The doctors in the cartoon look very concerned about this method of feeding, they look concerned and yet angry and the lady for letting herself get like this. The nurses all look bewildered and concerned.

5C) Force-feeding I believe didn’t help the women. Yes it kept them alive, but they didn’t want to be feed so if they want to die of starvation it was their own choice. I can see why the doctors did to start off with force feed the women because if you have a cure for the illness use it, but if the cure is against somebody’s will, they’re wasn’t much point in doing it. The purpose of the cat and mouse act was to keep women suffragettes alive and healthy but locked up, as they deserved to be in my opinion for committing violent offences. The act was called the cat and mouse act because the government liked to think it was in charge of the women so they were the mice and the government was the cat. The government believed they had the situation under control, as a cat believes it has the situation under control when chasing a mouse.

5D) According to the suffrage anti cat and mouse cartoon the government or liberals are the cats, with the suffragettes being the mice. The poster says. ‘Electors vote against him! Keep the liberal out!’ Meaning the women want the liberals out of power and also being a joke keep the cat outside.

6. The first five pictures show women helping England’s cause in the war against Germany. Many women put aside they’re views and decided to suspend political activity and help England in the war. A few women disagreed though and kept campaigning for the right to vote. Women played a very important role in the First World War. They did many jobs including working as nurses and doctors and speakers to encourage people to join the army e.t.c. The last three pictures are all recruiting posters all showing women working and helping England’s cause in the war.

It was necessary for women to help their country while at war. As suffragettes the women could not be pacifists at any price. They should support their country and let them be worthy of their citizenship and fight the good for their country. The country needed as many people to fight and help as they could get and the men couldn’t fight the war on their own they needed the women doctors and nurses e.t.c.

The jobs being done by the women in WWI resulted in the representation of the people act in 1918 this was installed because the women had done their job and helped the country as a reward for doing this the country gave women over 30 the right to vote. The women who helped got noticed instead of being violent they got the vote for doing their country proud.

The potential dangers of female voters was many women were said to not understand politics fully, many women were against the idea (including queen Victoria.) That women who weren’t married or householders would get to vote meaning convicts and lower class people might get to vote. Bu male worries about the dangers of female voter were eventually set aside and in 1928 all women over 21 were given the vote.

By Will Bush