Role of Suffragettes in Britain

This research paper discusses the role of the suffragettes in the movement to enfranchise women in Great Britain. The suffragettes were members of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) which was founded in 1903 and which during the decade preceding the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 engaged in more militant tactics which distinguished them from most other women suffragists. Many of the activities of the suffragettes evoked public controversy and produced some of the most colorful events on the Edwardian scene in Britain. Even today, passions have not entirely cooled which is evident in the exaggerated claims and assertions made by partisans on both sides. The sort of radical action necessary to accomplish a major social change of this sort is often misunderstood and misrepresented in its own time by enemies and critics, and the false perceptions so created may persist even after the social movement involved has succeeded. There were numerous criticisms level at the suffragettes in their own time, and many British history books continue to paint the movement as ineffectual and futile even after women's suffrage has been adopted and has become an accepted commonplace. The resulting historical bias in the writing of historical textbooks continues to distort the truth.

The ultimate granting of the vote to most adult women, which occurred in 1918, was not the product of World War I but rather the r

. . .
the cause by kites, boats, poster, umbrella and horseback parades." WSPU organized Women's Parliaments at Caxton Hall which then marched to Parliament Square at the opening of Parliament each February from 1906 onwards resulting in confrontations with the police and many arrests. According to Sylvia Pankhurst, "literally thousands of policemen on horse and foot were, time and again, turned out to repel a few thousand women." The pageantry of the demonstration in Hyde Park in June 1908 which was attended by more than 500,000 was striking and undoubtedly helped publicize the cause. Not all of the tactics of the Suffragettes, even in the early years, 1905-1909, met with general approval. They heckled and hissed all Liberal candidates at by elections, including the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers such as Lloyd George who were sympathetic to their cause. In attacking friend and foe alike, Mrs. Pankhurst said that she was wearing down all opposition in the style of the Irish Nationalist leader Charles Parnell. However, Parnell did not succeed with such tactics during his lifetime. Mrs. Pankhurst lost the support of some leaders who might have worked on her behalf, Lloyd George in particular, who had given up on pushing
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
World War, Sylvia WSPU, West East, Liberal Party, Property Acts, Twentieth Century, Reynolds Breshnel, Prime Minister, Sylvia Pankhurst, Wheeler Appeal, women's suffrage, prime minister, middle class, sylvia pankhurst, tactics suffragettes, world war, university press, suffrage movement, social change, -- daily, married women's property, social political union, women's property acts, women's social political, commons prime minister,
Approximate Word count = 3570
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Role of Suffragettes in Britain