the sufferagette crisis Flashcards
What were the main organisations campaigning for the extension of the vote to women, who were their main leaders and what were their tactics?
1.suffragette
- WSPU set up by Pankhurst in 1903
- 5,000 members
- campaigning for direct action and become violent during 1912 -14
2. suffragist
- 50,000
- NUWSS led by Fawcett
- persuading politician to agree to votes for women
Why did ‘extending the vote to women’ have political problems?
- Labour and the Liberals feared that women would vote conservative if the vote was extended as female householders were middle class and naturally conservative leaning
- Labour were
preoccupied with extending the vote to the remaining 40% of men and were suspicious of extending the vote to some women instead
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What motivated Liberal and Labour resistance to extending the vote to women?
Identify attempts to resolve the question of the vote for women and explain whether they
were effective or not.
- conciliation bill 1910
- gave the vote to property owning women
- came nothing because of divisions in parliament
Identify three developments regarding the women’s vote campaign which damaged the
reputation of the Liberal government.
- cat and mouse act 1913 where underfed suffragettes were released from prison to recover but then rearrested when well
- force feeding used on prisoners in hunger strikes
Assess the effectiveness of the suffragettes and the suffragists in the campaign for
women’s vote by 1914.
- protests ended with the start of WW1
