Britain and the Women's Suffrage
Before the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom, women were not able to stand as candidates for Parliament, nor were they allowed to vote in any form of election. The women's suffrage was a national movement in Britain. Two two main groups of supporters in Britain were referred to as the suffragists and the suffragettes. The differences between the two groups were the way they took action at the issues that they were fighting for. The suffragists were led by Millicent Fawcett who created the organization, National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), to help women peacefully campaign about equal rights for women. The NUWSS wanted voting rights of middle-class women who either owned their own property, or had a husband who did. These women operated a diplomatic campaign that used non-violent tactics to gain attention to their cause. "Fawcett believed that if the organization was seen to be occupied of intelligent, polite, law-abiding citizens then women would prove themselves responsible enough to participate in politics". The suffragists began seeing a great deal of support towards their cause, and thought that their act should not only include middle-class women, but women of the working class as well. The issue of this franchise was to embrace women of all sectors of society, and to give them the identity that they lacked. They gained a considerable amount of support by 1900, but not enough to change the preconceptions of Queen Victoria who believed that women should not involve themselves in politics.
One lady, Emmeline Pankhurst, grew tired of the respectable strategies of the NUWSS, so in 1903 she formed her own group, the Women's Social and Political Union, and was then referred to as the suffragettes. The suffragettes became more militant in their protests, and violence was on the rise. Suffragettes began chaining themselves to railings, or began throwing stones at the men of Parliament. The police were often involved in their protests, resulting in arrests and prison sentences. Multiple injuries were sustained at protests, and even one death. On June 8th 1913, Emily Davidson was attending the Epsom Derby of 1913 and sustained fatal injuries from a racehorse she collided into. Although it is unclear what she was doing so close to the track, it appeared she had a scarf in her hand promoting and supporting women's rights. A statement from Mrs. Pankhurst states that she believed that Mrs. Davidson may have thought that only the ultimate sacrifice would bring any success to the suffragettes.
"Men make the moral code and they expect women to accept it. They have decided that it is entirely right and proper for men to fight for their liberties and their rights, but that it is not right and proper for women to fight for theirs."
-Emmeline Pankhurst
The next year, in 1914 a war was declared in Europe which brought all the suffrage movements to a halt, as over a million women took on the jobs of men who fought in the war. After the war, in February 1918 the Government passed an act allowing women who were above the age of 30, and owned property costing more than €5/year, or was the wife of someone who did, the right to vote. This enabled the right of eight and a half million women to vote in 1918 elections. Finally, after years of thoughtful campaigning and tactical protests from both the suffragists and the suffragettes, a final law was passed on July 2nd 1928, allowing all adults, both men and women, over the age of 21 to vote.
Emily Davidson Tragedy
USA and the Women's Suffrage
The movement for women's rights in American first began in 1848 when a group of abolitionist activists gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, to discuss the problems involving women's rights. Although most of the activists gathered that day were women, there were quite a few men who attended who believed that women were autonomous individuals and deserved their own political identities. In 1869, Lucy Stone, who was part of the original group who met in Seneca Falls, formed a group out of Boston, Massachusetts, called the American Women Suffrage Association (AWSA). This organization had more conservative views than the original movement, and they drafted their own version of the constitution that focused on achieving the vote for women, while also encouraging male supporters to speak out for the cause. The AWSA organization worked independently for two decades from 1869-1890 until they merged with the more militant group, the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA). At the turn of the 20th century, the suffrage movement now had two organizations fighting towards equal rights for women of the country; each organization had their own tactics. The newly formed National American Women Suffrage's president, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and her fellow supporters educated the public about the validity of their cause. They were no longer arguing that women deserved the same rights as men because they should be equal; activists altered their campaigns to says that they deserved the vote because they were different. The minds of men and women work differently, and together they could shine on top. NAWSA directed their efforts towards altering the 15th Amendment because it excluded women. The suffragists made their domesticity a political virtue in order to try and create a moral maternal commonwealth for their franchise.
The second group, the National Women's Party (NWP) was under the leadership of Alice Paul. Mrs. Paul had been living in England for a few years before she created the NWP, and had been influenced by the leadership of Emmeline Pankhurst. When Mrs. Paul returned to American in 1910, she turned her attention toward making the National Women's Party a more militant organization, as she seemed to believe those tactics were working in Britain. The National Women's Party often undertook radical action at their protests, including picketing the White House, along with throwing stones at various buildings. Alice Paul was arrested, and treated harshly inside the prison. After being beaten and force fed, word got out of the jail on the conditions she was suffering from. The NWP and many other supporters rallied to get Mrs. Paul out of jail. This was during the time of the First World War in 1914-1918, so the two groups, NAWSA and NWP, decided to unite as one, even though the war slowed the suffragist's campaign down as they had to take over the jobs of the men who left to fight. The effort that the women put forward on behalf of the men at war proved that they were just as patriotic and deserving of rights as men. Shortly after the war on August 26th, 1920, the combined efforts of the National American Women Suffrage Assosiation and the National Women's Party worked towards ratifying the 19th Amendment enfranchising women.