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Women's suffrage history essays
The history of suffrage
Women's suffrage history essays
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Emmeline Pankhurst: A Historical Investigation:
Emmeline Pankhurst was a middle class woman living in Britain from 1858 to 1928 whose name is often equated with the British suffrage movement. Pankhurst’s most significant contribution to her society was adding militancy to the suffrage movement in Britain by creating the Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903. In creating this movement Pankhurst led a persistent and aggressive campaign, spanning over forty years, to help British women to achieve the right to vote and have a voice within Britain’s emerging democracy.
On the 14th of July 1858, Emmeline Pankhurst was born in Manchester England to her parents Robert Goulden and Sophia Craine. Both Goulden and Craine were liberal reformers,
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From the age of fourteen, Emmeline Pankhurst would accompany her mother to many of the women’s suffrage meetings and was encouraged to read the Women’s Suffrage Journal to which her mother was a subscriber. Emmeline Pankhurst was particularly interested in the speeches and writing of Lydia …show more content…
Pankhurst her interest in politics developed. Dr Pankhurst was a member of the Liberal Party believed in equal voting rights for women and often campaigned for other social reforms such as allowing Irish Home rule and abolishing the monarchy. Richard Pankhurst was involved in drafting a number of amendments in relation to women’s suffrage such as the Married Women’s Property Act of 1882 and also helped his wife to form the Women’s Franchise League in 1889. Mrs. Pankhurst also joined a number of suffrage movements to develop her interest in the movement after her marriage such as the executive committee of the Women 's Suffrage Society, and also was also on the executive board of the committee which was working to secure the Married Women 's Property Act. In 1893 Richard and Emmeline formed a branch of the Independent Labour Party in Manchester. After death of her husband in 1898, Emmeline Pankhurst worked as both a register and amongst a factory where she was exposed to the inequality experienced by working women on a social, economic and legal level within her society. Further Pankhurst was growing increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress made in changing legislation for women’s suffrage by the pacifist approaches of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). Thus in 1903 Pankhurst formed the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) which went onto become a much more aggressive branch of
Martin Pugh, in his evaluation of women’s suffrage, focuses his narrative on the Victorian Suffragists, especially from the 1870s to 1890s, arguing- unlike many other historians- that their contribution to the securing of votes for women was instrumental. Presented through 10 essays, focusing on specific topics related to the Suffragist movement, Pugh provides an in depth analysis of both the tactics and political climate the Victorian Women’s Suffrage movement faced. Organised in roughly chronological order, the prose is fluent with constant reference to central ideas featuring in each text, consolidating Pugh’s point.
In the years after 1870 there were many reasons for the development of the women’s suffrage movement. The main reasons were changes in the law. Some affecting directly affecting women, and some not, but they all added to the momentum of Women’s campaign for the vote.
“I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves” – Mary Wollstonecraft. In the 19th century the hot topic was women’s rights everybody had an opinion about it. Of course the expected ones like Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had much to say but a few unexpected ones like William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass spoke out for women’s rights. The focus will be the responsibilities and roles that the activists played in the Women’s Rights or Feminist Movement. The relevance to the theme is the activists had a very important role toward reaching the ultimate goal of the Women’s Rights Movement. The Women’s Rights Movement was one of the most essential times in American history; it was the fight for women acquiring the same rights as men. Susan B. Anthony was considered the leader of the Women’s Rights Movement after she was denied the right to speak in a temperance convention; she had the responsibility of creating the National Women’s Suffrage Association (NWSA) and helping to secure voting rights by her historic court case, the Trials of Susan B. Anthony. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an important women’s rights activist that helped plan the first organized women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York and wrote the Declaration of Sentiments. Lucretia Mott worked along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton to plan the first women’s rights convention and wrote the, “Discourse on Women”. Lucy Stone formed the American Women’s Suffrage Association (AWSA) and convince individual states to join the effort towards women rights. These women had an influence in the National American Women’s Suffrage Association’s (NAWSA) achievement of the goals in the Women’s Rights Movement. These women had a profound effect on reaching equal rights between men and women.
The women suffrage was first advocated in Great Britain by Mary Wollstonecraft A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792). During the 1830's and 40's British Suffrages received notable aid and encouragement from the Chartists, who fought unsuccessfully for human rights. John Stuart Mill, John Bright, and Richard Cobden were Liberal Legislators that helped to make the Women's Suffrage issues public to Britain. (Banner, Lois W. 2)
This work was rejected by many of the more conservative elements in the movement and a storm of protest arose as many of her colleagues condemned her. When she dies in 1902, she was no longer the movement’s leader and was unfortunately, not around to see women’s suffrage in the United States. Her crusade lasted for over fifty years of her life, as she learned and profited from her mistakes and failures, realizing that everything isn’t perfect. Even though she has been dead for quite some time now, her concerns, ideas, and accomplishments have endured and continue to influence the feminist movement and other movements for progress in the twentieth century.
The Second Great Awakening started the was a religious revival movement during the early 19th century in the United States, it sparked the building and reform of the education system, women's rights and the mental health system. It was also the start of many different denominations of churches such as the, Churches of Christ, Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the Evangelical Christian.
By 1913, the suffragette movement had exceeded a decade. The growing desperation of the suffragettes is clear in their calls for the aid of working men, echoing Emmeline Pankhurst’s “Freedom or Death” speech in November 1913. This appears as a change of heart in the operation of the WSPU, which had decreed to exclude men from their organisation and broken with the Labour Party in the previous year.
“Compare and contrast women’s suffrage movements of the late nineteenth and early centuries with the European feminist movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s.” Whereas the women’s suffrage movements focused mainly on overturning legal obstacles to equality, the feminist movements successfully addressed a broad range of other feminist issues. The first dealt primarily with voting rights and the latter dealt with inequalities such as equal pay and reproductive rights. Both movements made vast gains to the social and legal status of women.
This movement which was inspired by the ideologies of courageous women and fueled by their enthusiasm and sacrifice is often unacknowledged by most historians in the chronicles of American History. Today the movement is often misunderstood as a passive, white upper class, naive cause. But a deeper study would reveal that the women’s suffrage movement was the one that brought together the best and brightest women in America, which not only changed the lives of half the citizens of United States but also changed the social attitudes of millions of Americans.
The need for women’s rights began back in colonial America where women were referred to as “inferior beings”. This era, though it is not particularly noted for it’s feminist movements, did hold such people as Margaret Brent, who was a wealthy holder of land in Maryland and was a strong, but unsuccessful voice in securing a place for women in the legislature of the colony. It was also a period where Quakers, and many other individuals, such as famous American patriot, Thomas Paine supported the rights of women, but at the time it was not enough to make a significant difference and it wasn’t until the 19th century that women would get the real chance to make a difference.
Although they were fighting for a worthy cause, many did not agree with these women’s radical views. These conservative thinkers caused a great road-block on the way to enfranchisement. Most of them were men, who were set in their thoughts about women’s roles, who couldn’t understand why a woman would deserve to vote, let alone want to vote. But there were also many women who were not concerned with their fundamental right to vote. Because some women were indifferent in regards to suffrage, they set back those who were working towards the greater good of the nation. However, the suffragettes were able to overcome these obstacles by altering their tactics, while still maintaining their objective.
Through the history, women have always fought for their rights creating a new space for their participation as citizens. After the First World War during the 1920s and 1930s new histories of women suffragettes have been written. During that period of time some activist groups were created, for instance, the Edwardian women’s suffrage movement that created in women a ‘Suffragette Spirit’ with the same goals and purposes even with the same militant procedures such as radical feminism that involved hunger strike and forcible feeding. This argument have become controversial due to different points of view in recent years. Another samples are the formation of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), a group led by Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst under an autocratic system; Women’s Freedom League (WFL), a self-proclaimed militant organization and National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). These groups were formed in Britain giving way to creation of some texts that explain the actions of the feminist groups and were the basis to achieve the right of suffragettes. Furthermore, the author of this article talks about a second narrative published in 1914 by Constance Lytton that explain about her own experiences in a militant period and personal sacrifice in an attempt to vote. Finally, her experience of militancy had become the archetype of suffrage militancy. In addition, she became in a feminist and kept touch with important members of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). According to Lytton (cited in Mayhall, 1995: 326) She said that whilst she felt sympathy towards men, children and even animals – those that she said were ‘down-trodden’ – she had completely ‘been blind to the particular sufferings ...
Within the public sphere women had the option of peaceful protest which allowed for them to sway the political system that had oppressed them for so long. Unfortunately public protest could not change the oppression that took place in the private sphere of domesticity. We can see in the story that Mother has no intere... ... middle of paper ... ... E. Freeman.
“Introduction.” Rights for Women: The Suffrage Movement and Its Leaders. National Women’s History Museum, 2007. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.
First off, during World War One and in the 1920s, women did not have political/voting rights and were treated unfairly when it came to politics and the government. When World War One broke out, women’s roles changed from mothers to factory workers. War was considered more important than anything else and gender did not matter. The campaign for women’s suffrage closed out aggressive activities and the suffragettes agreed to help with the war. Women’s suffrage was an issue during World War One, and this kept women from being able to vote. During 1914, The Suffragette Movement happened—this was when suffragists worked hard to convince men in the government to give women their voting rights (Stearman 10). James F. McMillan states in his book “The Coming of Women’s Suffrage”: “By identifying with the state, feminists could hope that the state would identify with women and recognize their rights in the public sphere” (McMillan 25 April 2014). Eventually, the rights in politics for women started to evolve. In 1917 to 1919, voting rights for women evolved. Starting in 1917, voting rights were only given to nurses. In 1918, they were given to females of relative soldiers and those involved in conscription. In 1919, voting was given to all women and the amendment passed through the Senate (Stearman 18). During this time period, 8.5 million women were granted the power of voting—this was 40% of the total number of women (Sungrab 10 April 2014). Voting should be universal and should not discriminate anyone because of gender. Women worked hard to achieve their goal: by protesting in parades, campaigning with posters and asking the government to give them their rights not just as women, but as humans. Welfare, benefits, voting and healthcare we...