Suffragettes Importance

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The importance of the suffragettes and their campaign in winning the votes for women in 1918 can be widely debated. The suffragettes brought the topic of franchise for women into the public eye and forced the politicians to look at the issue more seriously. But there were other factors too that influenced the decision of giving the women the right to vote in 1918. The most important being, the peaceful work and campaign of the suffragists, the role of women during the First World War and the changing political climate and thinking. These were more pivotal in gaining the women the right to vote. So, it might be argued that the suffragettes’ campaign was not the most important reason for the women to gain the right to vote in 1918 because the…show more content…
The Suffragettes, an offshoot of the pacifist suffragists, under the leadership of Emmeline Pankhurst formed a group called the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903, which started the revolutionary campaign for right to vote for women. For example, they roped in a Member of the Parliament to introduce a women’s suffrage bill in 1905, which didn’t come to fruition. But it helped in bringing the cause of the group into the public’s eye on a wider scale. Furthermore, they started demonstrations, protests and hunger strikes on imprisonment. And the force-feeding of the prisoners resulted in public sympathy and support. Additionally, they adopted the motto “Deeds, not words” and founded the Women’s Press and started publishing their own newspaper called “Votes for women” to further their cause. They also manufactured many products, the most popular of which was a board game called “Pank-A-Squith”, a play on the names of Emmeline Pankhurst and then Prime Mister H. H Asquith. All these tactics helped them garner the support of the general public and also some of the politicians, which shows the importance of the suffragettes’…show more content…
The suffragists were the promoters of peaceful methods of gaining the right to vote for women. The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) with Millicent Fawcett as the head was formed in 1897 but their work started even before that, when, in 1865, the idea of women’s suffrage was lobbied by John Stuart Mill. The women’s rights movement dubbed “The Cause” was the foundation for the women’s suffrage movement in Britain. For example, by using peaceful demonstrations, petitions to the parliament and the MPs, they brought the issue of the enfranchisement of women into the political circles. Furthermore, by showing a level-headed and educated approach they were able to bring many politicians to their way of thinking. Thus, the Suffragettes were not the most important factor for women’s suffrage because even before the militant approach taken by the Suffragettes’ campaign, the balance of support in political circles was already swinging towards the right to vote for
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