Reasons for the Lack of Women's Suffrage by the Outbreak of the First World War

Reasons for the Lack of Women's Suffrage by the Outbreak of the First World War

There were many reasons why women had not gained the vote by the

outbreak of the First World War. To understand these reasons fully we

must first study sources D and E.

Source D is a written source and was written by Emiline Pankhurst, the

leader of the suffragettes. It is an extract from her book entitled

“My own Story”. The source is a justification for the suffragette’s

militant methods. In 1906 the suffragettes were following Millicent

Fawcett, founder of the suffragists. They used peaceful, non-violent

methods to express their views but were unheard by parliament.

Frustrated, the suffragettes took a different approach to campaigning

for suffrage. The suffragettes realised the importance of publicity

for their cause; they needed to keep the issue in the news. The

problem was, they were not at the top of the government’s priorities.

There were issues to be dealt with in Ireland, a potential war threat

and Britain was concerned primarily with defending its empire.

As a result of these problems, the suffragettes realised it would take

more than peaceful methods of protest to gain publicity. “Deeds not

words” rolled of the tongues of radical suffragettes. They turned to

what could be classified as terrorist action to keep the public

focused on their cause. They smashed windows, burned the homes of

important people, cut the communication cables to disrupt trade and

communication. They even chained themselves to railings in public

places, for instance, outside parliament or in Downing Street. They

burned chemical messages into golf courses and, when put in prison,

one of the most powerful and disturbing methods the women used were

hunger strikes. Source D quotes “Our campaign made women’s suffrage a

matter of news- it had never been that before.”.

The Hunger strikes were one of the most powerful methods used by the

suffragettes. They would starve themselves in prison until the

government had no option but to force-feed them. This process was

incredibly uncomfortable and in most cases very painful.