GCSE Votes for Women: Sourcework
The campaign for Votes for Women was one of the most important changes made at the start of the 20th century. It was a campaign that started in the 1890's. However there have been campaigns to gain female suffrage before, along with attempts to extend the franchise during the 19th century. These attempts had all failed but by the start of the 20th century two groups began to gain the attention of the establishment.
These two groups were the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) and the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). They were the suffragists and the suffragettes respectively. NUWSS was founded in 1897 and led by Millicent Fawcett. WSPU was founded in 1903 and led by Sylvia and Emmeline Pankhurst. They both had radically different approaches to campaigning. The NUWSS used peaceful methods such as petitions, marches, leafleting and political lobbying.
However the WSPU felt these methods were not working. They decided that more needed to be done to bring the issue of female suffrage into the political mainstream. Thus they started to use violent methods like bombing prominent members of the government, slashed paintings, chained themselves to railings and went on hunger strike. Finally, and most famously, Emily Davison ran out in front of the King's horse 1913 and was killed.
There were disagreements over how effective the violent methods were. Some think that they stopped people taking the campaign for female suffrage seriously. On the other hand they did create much more attention for the suffragettes demands. How effective either campaign was rendered moot when the First World War broke out in 1914. It was the war that helped women finally get the vote. Both the WSPU and NUWSS supported the war effort on the Home Front. The work the women did during the war showed the government that the women could be responsible and that they had 'earned' the right to vote. In 1918, with the representation of the People Act' all women over 30 were given the right to vote. in 1928 this was lowered to all women aged 21 and over.
These two groups were the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) and the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). They were the suffragists and the suffragettes respectively. NUWSS was founded in 1897 and led by Millicent Fawcett. WSPU was founded in 1903 and led by Sylvia and Emmeline Pankhurst. They both had radically different approaches to campaigning. The NUWSS used peaceful methods such as petitions, marches, leafleting and political lobbying.
However the WSPU felt these methods were not working. They decided that more needed to be done to bring the issue of female suffrage into the political mainstream. Thus they started to use violent methods like bombing prominent members of the government, slashed paintings, chained themselves to railings and went on hunger strike. Finally, and most famously, Emily Davison ran out in front of the King's horse 1913 and was killed.
There were disagreements over how effective the violent methods were. Some think that they stopped people taking the campaign for female suffrage seriously. On the other hand they did create much more attention for the suffragettes demands. How effective either campaign was rendered moot when the First World War broke out in 1914. It was the war that helped women finally get the vote. Both the WSPU and NUWSS supported the war effort on the Home Front. The work the women did during the war showed the government that the women could be responsible and that they had 'earned' the right to vote. In 1918, with the representation of the People Act' all women over 30 were given the right to vote. in 1928 this was lowered to all women aged 21 and over.
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