Suffragette

The title of suffragette (also occasionally spelt suffraget) was given to members of the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom. The word was originally coined to describe a more radical faction of the suffrage movement in the UK. Suffragist is a more general term for members of the movement, whether radical or conservative, male or female. American women preferred this more inclusive title, but people in the United States who were hostile to suffrage for the American woman used the UK word - pejoratively so, since the feminine-sounding version could be dismissed more easily.

In Canada, this same issue was brought up but was quickly revised into the Canadian legislation as women's rights were gained. This gave the women more motivation to work in factories and wartime production during World War I.

The term suffragette comes from the word suffrage, which means the right to vote. Suffragettes carried out direct action such as chaining themselves to railings, setting fire to the contents of mailboxes, and smashing windows. One suffragette, Emily Davison, died after she stepped out in front of the King's horse at the Epsom Derby of 1913. Many of her fellow suffragettes were imprisoned and went on hunger strikes, during which they were restrained and forcibly fed (see Force-feeding).

The so-called Cat and Mouse Act was passed by the British government in an attempt to prevent suffragettes from obtaining public sympathy; it provided the release of those whose hunger strikes had brought them sickness, as well as their re-imprisonment once they had recovered.

Nevertheless, protests continued on both sides of the Atlantic. Alice Paul and Lucy Burns led a series of protests against the Wilson Administration in Washington that referred to "Kaiser Wilson" and compared the plight of the German people with that of American women (see picture).

During World War I, a serious shortage of able-bodied men ("manpower") occurred, and women were required to take on many of the traditional male roles. This led to a new view of what a woman was capable of doing. Political movement towards women's suffrage began during the war and in 1918, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed an act (the Representation of the People Act 1918) granting the vote to: women over the age of 30 who were householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5, and graduates of British universities. The right to vote of American women was codified in the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920. Finally, women in the United Kingdom achieved suffrage on the same terms as men in 1928.

References

Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (New York: Merriam Webster, 1983) ISBN 0877795118
Suffragettes versus Suffragists - website comparing aims and methods of Women’s Social and Political Union (Suffragettes) to National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (Suffragists)
Suffragists vs. Suffragettes - brief article outlining origins of term "suffragette", usage of term and links to other sources.
Melanie Phillips. The Ascent of Woman: A History of the Suffragette Movement.

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References