Emmeline Pankhurst
British suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst was a mother to five with three of her girls choosing to follow in her footsteps both politically and in the women’s organizations she founded. Without the leadership of Pankhurst, women’s suffrage in Britain may not have come until much later. How much of an impact did Pankhurst really make? She was born in 1858 and died in 1928, which was the same year women finally gained the right to vote in Britain. In 1903 her and her three daughters worked together to form the Women’s Social and Political Union. In 1917 Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel formed the Women’s Party. She spent the majority of her life fighting for equal rights for women, and all of her efforts lead to the political equality men and women in Britain have today. In 1914, Pankhurst published her autobiography, My Story, which was a “chronicle of women's militant struggle against political and social injustice in one small corner of Europe” (Pankhurst 11). This book tells her story, going into …show more content…
She organized the Women’s Franchise League, an organization that advocated suffrage for both married and unmarried women. She also organized the Women’s Social and Political Union, which was also an all women’s suffrage organization and opposed political parties. In Pankhurst’s autobiography she talks about the way it was ran, “I shall have to point out exactly wherein our society differs from all other suffrage associations. In the first place, our members are absolutely single minded; they concentrate all their forces on one object, political equality with men [...] There was little formality about joining the Union. Any woman could become a member by paying a shilling, but at the same time she was required to sign a declaration of loyal adherence to our policy and a pledge not to work for any political party until the women's vote was won” (Pankhurst