The line below shows “What a man may have been and yet not lose the vote”. The bottom line of images depicts men in a negative light, with convicts, Lunatic and drunkards. The choice of words is interesting as neither convicts nor Lunatics would have been (or are) able to vote, however, if they were release from prison or were deemed to be sane enough to be released into the general public, then they would once more be entitled to the vote. The argument here ofcourse is that if men can be all these shameful and irresponsible acts yet still retain the vote, then why shouldn’t women gain the voted; women who can hold down respectable jobs.
This argument in itself is somewhat poor; all of the jobs listed, with the exception of mother, are attainable by men and all the “ailments” on the bottom line could easily be attributed to women. I could infer that the Suffragettes were angry about not having the vote, meaning that in their haste to get their message across they failed to look at the validity of their argument, as many do in anger. There is also the risk that they have alienated those who may have supported them. Those “unfit for service” (The disabled) may have been offended by this poster and those convicts who may have been released from prison may also feel aggrieved as a result of the message of this poster. This again could show the Suffragettes disregard for the consequences of their actions, since they may have lost some credibility with certain parties.
Q2. Study Sources B and C. Does Source B support the evidence of Source C about the Suffragette campaign? Explain your answer by reference to both sources.
Source B is a passage from a 1907 book called “Woman of Suffragette” by writer Marie Corelli. It mainly focuses on how women think they deserve the vote; a view with Corelli disagrees with.
Source C is a cartoon by Bernard Partridge from 1906, captioned “The Shrieking Sister”. It shows a Suffragist, seemingly calm and demure and a fanatical and dishevelled Suffragette. The Suffragists is saying “YOU help our cause? Why, you’re its worst enemy!” a common view at the time was just this; the suffragettes were hampering the women’s vote.
The sources are also similar since they both give women’s behaviour as a reason for them not getting the vote
The sources are also similar since they both give women’s behaviour as a reason for them not getting the vote. SB describes the Suffragettes “discontented ladies” and SC shows a Suffragette as some sort lunatic. However, SB seems opposed to giving women the vote all together, blaming mothers for the way they treat their male children and using that as a bases to not give them a vote; an opinion which seems to have little evidence to support it. Corelli seems to believe that women influence to children to vote, and that is their vote.
Both Sources do seem to recognise that women have suffered as a direct result of men. SB mentions that “women suffer great injustice at the hands of men” and SC seems to imply that Partridge is in support of the women’s vote, as he is showing the Suffragette hampering the cause, possibly indicating support for the Suffragists and therefore the women’s vote. Obviously if Partridge acknowledges the idea of women voting, he recognises those male politicians are causing part of this injustice.
The Sources however disagree in that SB is clearly anti women’s suffrage and SC gives some indication that women should be entitled to the vote. SB gives the reason for not giving the vote to women as they can pass down the right to vote to their male children; however SC implies that women should be allowed to vote and it’s mainly the fault of the Suffragettes that they have not been given it yet.
Overall, Sources B and C both disagree with each other; chiefly because one seems to support the women’s vote and the other doesn’t.
