THE SUFFRAGETTES MOVEMENT
It is the political movement that made women get the right to vote in England. In Fact the
word “suffrage” , from which the name of the movement derives, means the right to vote in
political elections for all people.
Until the last century women did not have the same rights as men in the western world. For
example, they could not vote or go to school. They were always subject to a male figure of
the family (their fathers, brothers or some other male relative) and had to accept their choices.
At the beginning of the 20th century more and more
women started to think that this was not fair and wanted change.
Since 1969 there has been talk of a real suffrage movement for the right to vote, which will
take the form of a real movement only in 1897 with the formation of the National Union of
Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) founded by Millicent Fawcett. This first movement
believed in peaceful protests and produced several bills that were not heeded. The progress
on the level of social recognition, in that first period, was therefore very limited, and this
situation lasted until about 1903.
In this period (1903) the feminist Emmeline Pankhurst founded a second current of the
suffrage movement called Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). This second
movement was much more violent than the first, because women believed that "deeds and not
words" were needed. For this reason, many participants were arrested repeatedly, also having
problems on a family and work level. Suffragettes carried out demonstrations, chaining
themselves to railings, burning mailboxes, breaking windows and so on. A case in point was
the death of Emily Davison, who died during the riots at the Epsom Derby on June 8, 1913,
and she was given a special edition of The Suffragette newspaper.
The women's movement had the aim of achieving equality with men not only from a political
point of view but also from a juridical and economic point of view. Women wanted to be able
to teach in high school, equal civil rights, carry out the same professions as men and above all
enjoy the right to elections or suffrage.
Despite the difficulties, women, with their organizations, won their battle and they got what
they fought for:
★ in 1918 the proposal for the right to vote for the wives of heads of families with at
least 30 years was approved
★ later, with the law of 2 July 1928, the suffrage was extended to all women in the
United Kingdom.
