Describe the ways in which the methods of the Suffragettes and the Suffragists were different.
During the beginning of the 20th century two groups of people, the Suffragists and the Suffragettes, campaigned for suffrage for women, but their tactics and beliefs were very different.
The National Union for Women’s Suffrage Society or NUWSS which was formed in 1897 consisted of men and women who campaigned to win the vote for women. They were known as the Suffragists and were led by Millicent Fawcett who showed the members “how to gain reforms without violence”. The peaceful methods they used included handing out leaflets, organising processions and signing petitions. They met with politicians to argue the case for women’s suffrage and at election times they helped any candidate that supported them. The NUWSS was most popular in the north as it had the most to offer for working class women, however most of the members were middle or upper class and they did not want the vote for all women, just a select few. However by 1914, the Suffragists had achieved nothing and gained no publicity, but Millicent Fawcett remained unconcerned as she said that the movement was like a glacier: “it might be slow, but it is unstoppable.” But many members of the NUWSS did not share this view and were annoyed by the slow progress so they decided to take matters into their own hands and broke away from the group, creating the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).
