I think the most important thing that Emmeline Pankhurst did was founding the ‘Women’s Social and Political Union’. This was the first group of its kind to fight for women’s rights. She intended to recruit working-class women into the struggle for the vote by giving speeches, going on parades and generally using peaceful methods. When the media started losing interest the WSPU started using more violent methods and vandalism to get attention. This was very radical for women to break the law for political advancement. This had a negative effect in some parts of society and played into the hands of those who thought that women were too irresponsible to vote.
Through using these methods many members were arrested, and between 1907 and 1914 Emmeline spent most of her time in prison. She even used this to her political advantage by going on hunger strikes to gain attention from the press and get released from prison under the ‘Cat and Mouse’ Act, where people that went on hunger strikes could be released from prison and re-arrested when they had recovered.
When the First World War broke out in 1914 the WSPU started negotiating with the Government.
Emmeline Pankhurst was in a position of power that enabled her to stop all protesting during the war and help with the war effort. She also changed the name of the WPSU newspaper from ‘The Suffragettes’ to ‘Britannica’, to show her patriotic view on the war.
World war one was a great turning point for women. Throughout the war they did jobs that had been considered as men’s’ work, whilst the men were away. They did equal work and kept the country running thus proving that women were equal to men. Jobs such as factory work and working on the land which had been considered as hard labour and men’s work, was now done by women.
The law was changed in 1918 so that women over the age of 30 had the right to vote as long as they owned a house or were married to the householder. It wasn’t until 1928 that women received equal voting rights to men and could vote once they reached 21. Emmeline died in the same year, her daughter Christabel said ‘She, who had come to them in their need, had stayed with women as long as they still might need her, and then went away.’
Emmeline Pankhurst was a very important figure in obtaining the franchise for women. She was an educated woman in a privileged position who used her status amongst women to fight for better political and social rights for all. By raising awareness of the issues and becoming a leader of women, she was in a good position to encourage women the support the economic and military efforts of their country during the time of war. It was evidence of a woman’s’ real worth, that convinced the Government to change the law and not all the violent protesting they had done before the war.
Laura Bond 11GY2Y
