What were the main differences between the suffragettes and the suffragists?

Women’s suffrage societies campaigned for the right to vote since the 1850’s. When the Kensington Society was deprived of the Reform Act in 1866 that enabled men and women to have equal political rights, they created the London Society of Women’s Suffrage. Millicent Fawcett joined them in 1867. Lydia Becker ran one of the main suffrage groups in Manchester. In 1887 women’s suffrage groups agreed that they would be better off if they joined together to create one large women’s suffrage society. Thus creating the NUWSS (National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies). Known as the Suffragists. Lydia Becker ran the society and Millicent Fawcett took over as leader when Lydia Becker died in 1890.

The NSPU (The Women’s Social and Political Union), was created in October 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst. The union was set up after several of the NUWSS members became bored of the same routine of protesting using leaflets and petitions. They believed that they were getting nowhere with their campaign. These women broke away from the Suffragists to form the Suffragettes who used a much more direct approach in their campaign for women’s suffrage.

The Suffragists believed in constitutional campaigning. They argued their case with MP’s, issued leaflets, presented petitions and organised meetings. They thought that they would only be taken seriously if they stuck to legal tactics. They also proved to have concerns for other causes too. For example, they helped Josephine Butler in her white slave traffic campaign.

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The Suffragettes believed in much more direct action. Their motto was ‘Deeds not Words’. They thought that all the talking and peaceful protests that were being used by the NUWSS were just not working, and that their campaign should be more militant. The Suffragettes were a lot more violent and favoured such things as throwing stones at the prime ministers house and smashing windows to get themselves noticed.

On one hand the Suffragists favoured peaceful protests and believed their campaign to be like a glacier, slow but unstoppable. They allowed men to help fight in the campaign, as they believed that if they were to get the vote they would have to get it from men. They tried using different but legal methods of getting parliaments attention by writing letters to newspapers and MP’s and circulating petitions and leaflets. They managed to get quite a few MP’s on their side, but the women still didn’t get the vote.

But on the other hand the Suffragettes favoured a women only policy. They moved to London in 1906, where the main newspapers, law courts and the Prime Minister were. This was because their main cause was to gain as much publicity for their cause as possible. Moving to London meant that they could get more media and legal attention. They used very extreme methods of doing this. In 1908, Edith New chained herself to the railings on Downing Street. By doing this, they could have more time to protest before the police took them away.

A further difference between the Suffragettes and the Suffragists was over the actions they took when the bill in parliament to allow votes for women was suddenly dropped in 1911. The Suffragists announced that they would be campaigning for the Labour Party at the next General Election, as it was the only political party that was committed to women’s suffrage. On the other hand the Suffragettes just made their campaign all the more violent. They smashed windows,

set fire to post boxes, bombed churches, and damaged cricket patches and golf courses. Bombs were placed in warehouses and telephone wires were cut. Art galleries had to be closed after Suffragettes slashed valuable paintings. More and more of the Suffragettes were arrested and sent to prison, where they continued to protest by going on hunger strike. Finally in 1913 Emily Davidson threw herself in front of the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby, and died. Showing that they were willing to die for their cause proved to be a huge boost in publicity and many changed their minds about the Suffragettes.

Suffragette violence caused many women to end up in prison, which became another publicity campaign. In 1912, a huge hunger strike began. As women were still portrayed as weak and vulnerable this was very much a sympathy vote. New suffragette propaganda showed thin, weak women being held down and force fed with a tube down their throat by men. These helped create the Cat and Mouse Act in 1913, which meant that women could be arrested, let out of prison when their health deteriorated and then re-arrested when they got better.

In 1917, the Suffragettes formed the Women’s Party that campaigned for equal pay, maternity rights for women and infant care. This benefited more than just the cause of suffrage.

In conclusion the main difference between the Suffragettes and the Suffragists were that they used very different methods of getting what they want. The suffragists believed that the only way they that would be taken seriously is if the stuck to legal methods to campaign for their cause and the Suffragettes believed that the only way they would be taken seriously was if they broke away from being traditional women and playing feminine roles. The thought that by using more violence and showing people what they were really capable of they could make a difference whereas the Suffragists thought that they were setting a responsible image for their society and finding legal ways to get around the system.