Innovation in feminism

Why do they fight?

Women before the First World War had no right to vote, so women lived (until 1918) without the right to express themselves.

This photography represents Emeline Phankurst holding a sign with the inscription “Vote for Women”. She was doing this to protest against the law in the UK (She also created the WSPU: Women Social and political Union in 1903)
There were also inequalities regarding property (women could not dispose oftheir own property) and were restricted to the guardianship of their husbands

The beginnings of feminism

In 1851, the first feminist petition to parliament asking for women's right to vote rose in Great Britain. Millicent Fawcett founded the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies* in 1897 to obtain the right to vote in a peaceful manner, justifying this action by theobedience of women to the law, which meant that they also had to have the right to take part in drafting it.

Subsequently in 1903 Emeline Pakhurst founded the Women Social and Political Union* with her three daughters (Christabel,Sylvia, and Adela) and a group of British women who were soon renamed Suffragettes*

In 1905 Christabel and Annie Kenney were arrested for shouting slogans in favour of women's suffrage at a Liberal Party* political meeting. They were imprisoned instead of paying the fine, which led to a series of arrests that aroused growing publicsympathy. The suffragettes also set fire to institutions that were symbols of male supremacy.

In 1908, Muriel Matters and Helen Fox chained themselves to the gates of the Ladies' Gallery in order to darken the parliamentary chamber (the gates had to be dismantled to free them).

After all these actions, Winston Churchill spoke out for women's suffrage while refusing to give in to the outlawed actions of the suffragettes, after which hunger strikes were organised in the prisons where the suffragettes were incarcerated to protest against the state's decisions.

Emeline Phankurst arrested in front of the Buckingham in London. She was trying to present a petition to King George V, in may 1914

The methods used by the suffragettes to make themselves heard were sometimes pacifist but often not. First of all there were different types of demonstrations in the streets to make their de mands heard.

But also many people attributed the feminists to terrorists. During the movement several bombs were used (e.g. Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral), railway stations were blown up and the home of Chancellor David Lloyd George was blown up. (There are also reports that the suffragettes used poisoned letters to kill the recipients)

The concretisation of the movement During the First World War women were used as replacements for men, so female capabilities were questioned.

The United Kingdom parliament then granted women

the right to vote in 1918

(for women over 30) Then in 1928, the right to vote was brought into line with that of men (same conditions required), the United Kingdom was the 8th country to grant women the right to vote

National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies: The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the Suffragists to distinguish themselves from the Suffragettes, was anorganization that campaigned for women's suffrage in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the United Kingdom.

Women Social and Political Union: The Women's Social and Political Union, often referred to by its acronym WS PU, was a feminist organization founded in 1903 and disbanded in 1917, which campaigned for women's right to vote in the United Kingdom.

Suffragettes: English feminist who fought for gender equality and in particular to obtain the right to vote for women.

Liberal party: A liberal party is a political party that advocates ideas related to liberalism. In many countries, there is a liberal or liberal-like party. But depending on the country, the term liberal can cover a variety of ideologies on the political spectrum.