...Male attitude towards votes for women Male prejudice still existed despite the arguments put forward by women’s groups. A generally held view was that women in the later 19th century were considered to be second class citizens, physically, mentally and morally inferior to men and therefore incapable of voting. It was argued that women and men operated in different ‘spheres’ with their social roles being based on their differing abilities. While men were the protectors of family and the ‘breadwinners’ who had a role to play in government and professional life, woman by contrast, should focus on rearing the children and do ‘good deeds’ in charitable religious and educational work. As was said in a parliamentary debate in 1872, “we regard women as something to admire, to love . . . . she is the silver lining which lights the cloud of man’s existence.” Therefore, for many men there was no place for women in politics. Such attitudes of the majority MPs and working class men in British society delayed women’s suffrage as for it to occur they needed the support of the ‘dominant’ and powerful group in society i.e. Men. Female attitudes towards votes for women Very few women initially supported women’s fight for suffrage. In fact many women were strongly against giving women the vote or any form of education for women or rights. As Sarah Sewell, herself opposed to women’s suffrage said, “profoundly educated women rarely make good wives or mothers.” She continued that such educated...
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...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...
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...Pankhurst was an English women’s rights activist who founded the WSPU or the Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903. The main purpose of the WSPU was to advocate for women’s suffrage, which was women’s right to vote. They did this by badgering politicians, setting letters in mailboxes on fire, shattering windows, lacerating museum paintings, and even martyrdom. Emmeline Goulden was born in 1858 in England and she was the oldest daughter of ten children. Goulden’s parents were pro suffrage, and when she was fourteen, she went to her first women’s suffrage meeting. She met her husband, Dr. Richard Pankhurst, in 1878. He was a lawyer who supported many reformist causes, one being women’s suffrage. He was 24 years older than...
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...the National Union of Women's Suffrage. "Suffrage" means the right to vote and that is what women wanted - hence its inclusion in Fawcett's title. Millicent Fawcett believed in peaceful protest. She felt that any violence or trouble would persuade men that women could not be trusted to have the right to vote. Her game plan was patience and logical arguments. Fawcett argued that women could hold responsible posts in society such as sitting on school boards - but could not be trusted to vote; she argued that if parliament made laws and if women had to obey those laws, then women should be part of the process of making those laws; she argued that as women had to pay taxes as men, they should have the same rights as men and one of her most powerful arguments was that wealthy mistresses of large manors and estates employed gardeners, workmen and labourers who could vote........but the women could not regardless of their wealth..... However, Fawcett's progress was very slow. She converted some of the members of the Labour Representation Committee (soon to be the Labour Party) but most men in Parliament believed that women simply would not understand how Parliament worked and therefore should not take part in the electoral process. This left many women angry and in 1903 the Women's Social and Political Union was founded by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia. They wanted women to have the right to vote and they were not prepared to wait. The Union became better...
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...'Despite gender equality on the rise, are men and women equal in the workplace?' Introduction “The human race is a bird and it needs both its wings to be able to fly. And, at the moment, one of its wings is clipped we’re never going to be able to fly as high.” Although the number of sex discrimination claims have dropped by 41% from 18,300 in 2010/11 to 10,800 in 2011/12, it continues to be the most frequent type of discrimination claim received by tribunals. Gender equality is a known problem within the UK as organisations and the UK as a whole do not view men and women with equal value and therefore have unequal treatment. Whilst employers should enforce policies that are designed to prevent sex discrimination in recruitment and selection, pay, training, promotions, discipline and grievances, this is not always the case. Although women within work is on the rise as in 2013 the female employment rate reached 67.2, which is the highest it has ever been since Office for National Statistics’ records began, the median weekly earnings for women fell from £413 to £411. This means the gender pay gap has now risen from £89 to £97 pounds a week as weekly earnings for men rose from £502 to £508. With this in mind, I am proposing to argue the fact that women are still not treated equally to men within organisations in the UK based on my three chosen chapters that are ‘The History of Women and their Rights’, ‘Gender Equality Governmental Laws and Gender Pay’ and ‘Influential Women’...
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...My Essay is about The Suffragettes Movement and its impact on the modern world today. Since 1800’s, when it was believed that women should not have the right to vote because of their soft and emotional nature and their incapability to make major decisions, women today have come a long way. ‘’Suffragettes was the name given to women who demanded the right to vote in elections.’’ The Suffragettes Movement was set up in 1897. This movement was set up because women wanted Parliament to address women’s issues and a Parliament full of men would never do this. Women teachers, doctors and those who worked in factories and mills had shown that they were capable of doing jobs that men could do and therefore felt that it was now time that they were recognised and treated as equals to men. Women had the right to vote! To achieve this equality, women started the Suffrage Movement which led to several events until the women were given the right to vote. The events that will highlight my essay will be: why did the Suffragette Movement start, how did the Suffragettes achieve their goals and what was the result of the Suffragette Movement. The above events will be supported by several sources. After years of struggle for change, women had achieved more rights socially and economically but there still remained many inequalities. Inequality in employment meant that men would get preference and higher...
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... However, in many ways the shocking violence somewhat hindered a movement that had been established by Millicent Fawcett in a more peaceful, law abiding manner. Although women (over the age of thirty) were eventually given the right to vote when the Representation of the People Act was amended in 1918, Pankhurst’s contribution to this can be considered minimal. Although Pankhurst’s methods generated a huge amount of media attention, alternate factors such as women’s role during World War One can be seen as being of more relevance to women being enfranchised. As well as this, Fawcett's contribution to the movement encouraged the support of thousands, and therefore cannot be ignored. Emmeline Pankhurst can be seen as being a significant figure in bringing about the vote for women, due to the mass media attention her methods generated. In 1903, Pankhurst founded the National Women’s Social and Political Union. This was a response to the slow moving, gradualist approach from Fawcett, leader of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. British politicians, press and the public were astonished by the of window smashing, arson, hunger strikes and violence against the police. Source A shows perfectly how Pankhurst’s militant methods resulted in the cause receiving a front page spread in The Daily Mirror, showing Pankhurst being arrested at the gates of Buckingham Palace. The Daily Mirror was a relatively new paper, however during this period it was the largest circulating picture...
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...equally important. The NUWSS, nicknamed the Suffragists, were formed in 1897 and led by Millicent Fawcett. The suffragists were mainly comprised of middle class and very few working class women; they had a member ship of just over 53,000. They used non-violent tactics such as marches, writing letters to the government, holding meeting and giving out free newspaper. These tactics had very little effect on the public as the government didn’t see them as a threat and they didn’t find women’s suffrage as an important issue, so they began to ignore them. Therefore women’s suffrage was gradually going down on the political agenda. The suffragists were realists as they recognised that only parliament could deliver the vote, so MP’s had to be persuaded. In this, they were successful as they got the attention of Labour MP’s Keir Hardie and George Lansbury, this gave the NUWSS someone willing to represent them and speak on their behalf in parliament for the first time ever in the UK. Both MP’s spoke about women’s suffrage in parliament, yet they too achieved very little for the cause. However the NUWSS did achieve something good from their campaigning. The...
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...How important were the activities of the Women’s suffrage movement in the decision to grant women to vote. On February the 6th 1918 women over the age of 30 who were householders or married to a householder were granted the vote in Britain. This came after 60 years of suffrage campaigns. The women’s suffrage campaign was a powerful political force by 1914. There were 56 suffrage groups and two main bodies, whom of which were national - The suffragists (NUWSS) and The Suffragettes (WSPU). This essay will analyse how far the women’s suffrage movement was responsible for women being granted the vote by comparing it to other important factors such as the changing attitudes towards women in society, the part played by women in the war effort 1914-1918 and the changes in other countries. It can be argued that the activities of the suffrage movement in the decision to grant the vote for women was a big factor but their war work perhaps had just as big a part to play and the changes in other countries perhaps also just as big an influence. Therefore it can be argued the women’s suffrage movement was important in the decision to grant women the vote. It is undeniable that the activities of the women’s suffrage movement in the decision to grant them the vote was important as they were always being spoken about and they were known nationwide. The two different groups had two completely different approaches to their cause. The campaigning methods of the NUWSS were ‘peaceful’ tactics whereas...
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...walks through the door, having been alive the whole time. Mrs. Mallard literally dies of grief at seeing he is alive and well. This intrigued me, as I wondered why she was so upset he wasn’t dead, and I wanted to find out more about women’s roles in 1894. At the time this story was written, women did not have many rights. They could not seek higher education, own land or property, and they could not vote. In 1894, the fight had started but the battle was still a long way from being won. This story was inspiring to me, and it made me want to learn about the fight for women’s suffrage since 1848, which is when the Seneca Falls Convention was held on July 19 and 20th (“Rights for Women”). According to the National Woman’s History Museum, it took women more than seventy-two years to get right the vote (“Rights for Women”). I find it amazing that the United States denied women the right to vote for that long. The fight for women’s suffrage, which started with the Seneca Falls Convention and is still going on today, reveals a long and arduous struggle. This paper will explore the origins, the early history, the advancements in the 1900’s, the final outcome, and finally the fight for women’s equal rights that still exists today. According to the National Women’s History Museum, “In the early 1800’s, women were second class citizens. Women were expected to...
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...allowed to vote. For centuries women have been recognized as inferior to men as they weren’t “strong” or “skilled” enough. But, women believed that they should also have a say in parliament and government decisions by being allowed to vote. Just like men, women have to pay taxes and abide by the law. The fight for female suffrage in Britain began in 1866 when the first campaigns that supported women’s right to vote...
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...The suffrage campaigners of the nineteenth and early twentieth century struggled against opposition from both parliament and the general public to eventually gain the vote for the entire British population in 1928. ------------------------------------------------- Who took part in the campaign? The first women's suffrage bill came before parliament in 1870. Soon after its defeat, in 1897, various local and national suffrage organisations came together under the banner of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) specifically to campaign for the vote for women on the same terms 'it is or may be granted to men'. The NUWSS was constitutional in its approach, preferring to lobby parliament with petitions and hold public meetings. In contrast, the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), formed in 1903, took a more militant view. Almost immediately, it characterised its campaign with violent and disruptive actions and events. Together, these two organisations dominated the campaign for women's suffrage and were run by key figures such as the Pankhurstsand Millicent Fawcett. However, there were other organisations prominent in the campaign, including the Women's Freedom League (WFL). These groups were often splinter groups of the two main organisations. ------------------------------------------------- What did they campaign for? Before the first of a series of suffrage reforms in 1832, only 3% of the adult male population were qualified to vote. For the most part...
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...Alice Paul was major contributor to the Women’s suffrage movement. Alice Paul was born on January 11, 1885 in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. She is the first born daughter to William and Tacie Paul, and has three other siblings named William, Helen and Parry. Her family followed the religious practice of Hicksite quakers. They also owned a large 264-acre farm that Alice and her siblings grew up on called Paulsdale. It was away from the town but not completely isolated from it. They all participated in some farm chores but mainly used farm hands to do the majority of the work. Alice remembering the advice of her mother said “When you put your hand to the plow, you can’t put it down until you get to the end of the row.” Even though her family was relatively wealthy, they lived quite simply. Alice was raised to believe in gender equality which is said to have influenced her greatly throughout her life. Being a Quaker, one of...
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...Anthony progressed to pursue women’s suffrage at a greater level, Carrie Chapman Catt became the primary leader of the organization. Chapman Catt raised the NAWSA to a strong position, influencing several other states to approve the amendment, including New York and California. “On May 21,1919, U.S. Representative...
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...had united under the leadership of suffragist Alice Paul to march through Washington in demand of their right to vote. Shouted and jeered at as they processed, these women braved the hostile crowd while gaining significant publicity for their cause. [pic][pic] The movement of women into the public and political spheres had been gaining in momentum and popularity since the mid-19th century. Women demanded suffrage as early as 1848. The Seneca Falls convention brought together 200 women and 40 men, including feminists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, to make the claim for full citizenship. The delegates believed women to be citizens not limited in any way to their roles as wives or mothers. In the language of the founding fathers, they wrote, "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men and women are created equal." They rejected Victorian domesticity and its separation of women and men into private and public spheres, respectively. It was at Seneca Falls that the suffrage movement first began. Women entered into public life more and more in the years after the convention. In part this was linked with the expansion of educational opportunities at the time. Women's colleges sprouted up all over the country, enrolling young, mainly white middle-class women. By 1870 there were 11,000 female students at these institutions of higher education. A decade later, there were 40,000. These women received a progressive education and, in their college experiences, found an...
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