A suffragette was a woman in the early 20th century, who wanted the right to vote. Movement for women's suffrage debuted in England, but also touted supporters in places such as the United States. One of the first influential suffragists was a woman named Millicent Fawcett. In 1897 she founded the National Woman Suffrage Union.
Fawcett advocated peaceful protest to win people to the cause of women's suffrage. She believed that violence would only harm the cause, influence men to think that women could not be trusted to participate in the political process. Despite the peaceful Fawcett measures to promote the agenda of the union, men in Parliament persisted in thinking that women were unable to understand how the government worked; therefore, women should not have the right to vote.
Finally, some women who supported the vote for women to get impatient with non-confrontational tactics Fawcett. In 1903, Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Sylvia and Christabel and social policy based on the Women's Union (WSPU). The union became known as the suffragettes. This new organization was prepared to use violence to achieve the right to vote. Membership in the WSPU was limited to only women, and the group began peacefully talking to social and business meetings, parks and fairgrounds.
It was not until 1905 that the group has started using more aggressive tactics to draw widespread attention to the movement. This year, Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kennedy interrupted a political meeting involving Winston Churchill and Sir Edward Grey. The two women asked the politicians if they thought women should have the right to vote. Instead of answering, politicians have ignored the issue. The two suffragettes held a banner that proclaimed "votes for women, and demanded the politicians answer their question.
Consequently, Pankhurst and Kennedy were ejected from the meeting and arrested for disorderly conduct. Two decided to go to jail rather than pay a fine. The event was widely publicized WSPU, causing sympathetic women to join the movement.
After this accident, WSPU process to employ more militant methods to force the government of England to give them the right to vote. Members of the group suffragettes smashed windows popular stores in London, set fire to empty buildings, cut telephone and telegraph son, burned golf courses, and chained themselves to the gates.
When a suffragette was sentenced to prison, she often went on a hunger strike. In response, the prison officials force fed the prisoner. This practice ended following public outcry, since feeding tactics have been traditionally used for prisoners who suffered from mental problems. In April 1913, the Parliament adopted a temporary discharge of prisoners to ill health Act (also known as the Law on the mouse and Cat). This law allowed a prisoner weakened by hunger strike for release for his health improves. Once the suffragette was healthy enough to resume his sentence, she was imprisoned again.
A woman suffragette was often physically and verbally attacked by the police and ordinary citizens. Belts or signature purple badges of Suffragettes, white and green rendered easily recognized in the streets of the city. They organized demonstrations and marches to lavish greater public awareness to their cause, often leading to violent reactions from the police. A suffragette Emily Wilding Davison named became a martyr for the movement when it is thrown in race horses hooves of the king during the Epsom Derby. After his death four days later, a crowd of people attended her funeral.
In 1918, Parliament granted to women over 30 the right to vote if they owned houses, was married to an owner, owner-occupied charging an annual rent of at least five books or were graduates of a British university. On 2 July 1928, Parliament declared that all women aged 21 and over could vote. Unfortunately, Emmeline Pankhurst, who had been so instrumental in the suffrage movement, died weeks before the bill became law.
Many suffragettes went to prison.In 1928, Parliament declared all British women aged over 21 could vote.
