Suffragettes in the Dock Women’s suffrage – the arguments.

Suffragettes in the DockWomen’s suffrage – the arguments

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Sum up this picture in one sentence:

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• At the start of the twentieth century, women were not equal with men.

• Women were seen as in charge of the home, while the man went out to work.

• Most importantly, they were not allowed to vote in national General Elections.

• Some people began to support the campaign to give women the vote (women’s suffrage).

• The Victorians thought that the ideal wife was:– Angelic– Obedient– Pale and delicate– Silent– A possession (when a

woman married her husband, her possessions and even the woman herself legally became her husband’s property)

• Women had made progress in some areas.

• They were allowed to vote in local elections.

• In 1865, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson became the first qualified female doctor.

• In 1879, Somerville College opened at Oxford University – the first female college.

Mini Quiz

1. What was women’s suffrage?

The right of women to vote

The right of women to free speech

The right of women to an education

The right of women to vote

Mini Quiz

2. Which of these was not a quality that a Victorian expected in his wife?

Angelic

Silent

ExpensiveExpensive

Mini Quiz

3. Who was the first female doctor?

Elizabeth Bowes Lyon

Gillian Anderson

Elizabeth Garrett AndersonElizabeth Garrett Anderson

Did women deserve the vote?

Step 1: Look at both sides of the argumentStep 2: Think about different people having different opinionsStep 3: Try to answer the question

Women can be teachers, lawyers and doctors.

Women are not able to fight in the army so cannot defend the country.

The number of women in work was increasing.

Women do not want to vote.

Not giving women the vote means that they are treated the same as criminals.

Past experience shows that men are perfectly capable of governing without

women.

Women would be more likely to want social reforms which would better the

conditions of the country.

Women are increasingly involved in political activities, like trade unions.

If women could vote they might abandon their families for politics.

If women could vote, Britain would seem weaker to the other world powers.

Women were allowed to vote in Australia, New Zealand and some parts of

the USA.

If more people could vote, the government

would be able to say that it was more democratic and represented more people.

Women can already vote in local elections which deal with ‘female’ issues.

Women would be told how to vote by their husbands.

Women could vote in local elections and had proven that they didn’t vote for

radical or ‘wacky’ people.

Which step does each statement match up to?

On the whole, women had proved that they deserved the vote because they had shown that they were capable of playing an intelligent role in society.

Step 1: Look at both sides of the argument

Step 2: Think about different people having

different opinions

Step 3: Try to answer the

question

Most women would have supported the arguments in favour of women’s suffrage, because they wanted to gain more power and influence.

There were arguments in favour of women getting the vote, but there were also some arguments against it – mainly a fear of the unknown and that it was tradition that women did not vote.

There were arguments in favour of women getting the vote, but there were also some arguments against it – mainly a fear of the unknown and that it was tradition that women did not vote.

Most women would have supported the arguments in favour of women’s suffrage, because they wanted to gain more power and influence.

On the whole, women had proved that they deserved the vote because they had shown that they were capable of playing an intelligent role in society.

AL E M E

Rearrange the key word for the suffragette bannerYou have 30 seconds…

FEMALE

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Suffragettes in the DockThink about…

• What were arguments for giving women the vote?

• What were the arguments against giving women the vote?

• Did women deserve the vote?

Suffragettes in the DockThe suffragettes


• What were arguments for giving women the vote?

• What were the arguments against giving women the vote?

• Did women deserve the vote?

What do people protest about? You have 60 seconds…

Climate change

• The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) was founded by Millicent Fawcett.

• It was an organisation set up to win the vote for women.

• By the beginning of the twentieth century it had over 500 branches.

• Members of the NUWSS were nicknamed suffragists.

• The suffragists followed traditional political methods in their fight to get the vote.

• They held meetings and demonstrations, signed petitions and wrote letters to MPs.

• The suffragists made people aware of the campaign for women’s rights, but not everybody was impressed.

• Emmeline Pankhurst started the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903.

• Its members were called the suffragettes.

• They set up a headquarters in London and hoped to draw more attention to women’s suffrage.

• They had a weekly newspaper called Votes for Women which had a circulation of 40,000 by 1914.

• They sold WSPU merchandise and chalked messages on pavements and buildings.

• However, “Deeds not Words” became their motto and they were prepared to act violently too.

• The suffragettes chained themselves to railings outside Parliament, broke windows and aimed to cause a nuisance.

• They even firebombed churches and attacked the house of David Lloyd George, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

• As a result, many suffragettes spent time in prison.

True or False

1. The suffragists were peaceful campaigners

True

True or False

2. The suffragettes were formed by Millicent Fawcett

False(it was Emmeline Pankhurst)

True or False

3. The suffragettes attacked the home of the Prime Minister

False(it was the Chancellor of the Exchequer)

Were the suffragettes too violent?

Step 1: Look at both sides of the argumentStep 2: Think about different people having different opinionsStep 3: Try to answer the question

The suffragettes’ own newspaper was sold on street corners and spread the

reasons why women should vote.

They suffragettes chained themselves to Buckingham Palace as the Royal Family were seen to be against women voting.

The suffragettes wrote petitions to Parliament – one in 1910 had 250,000

signatures.

Golf courses were vandalised by the

suffragettes.

Suffragette meetings and demonstrations could be very large – one in 1908 had

200,000 attendees.

Emily Davison, a suffragette, was killed as

she tried to disrupt the running of the Derby.

The suffragettes attacked politicians who

they thought blocked female suffrage laws in Parliament.

Some suffragettes refused to pay taxes.

Suffragettes hired out boats, sailed up the Thames and shouted abuse through loud

hailers at Parliament.

One suffragette attacked a valuable

painting at the National Gallery.

The suffragettes would chalk slogans on pavements and buildings.

The suffragettes tried to gatecrash political meetings and heckle the

speakers.

Churches were firebombed by the suffragettes because they thought the Church

of England was against giving women the vote.

The suffragettes sold WSPU merchandise – tea sets, postcards, scarves.

The suffragettes broke windows along London’s famous Oxford Street.


People who were directly affected by the violence would have thought that the violence was over the top. However, it convinced other people that the suffragettes were determined to succeed.

Step 1: Look at both sides of the argument

Step 2: Think about different people having

different opinions

Step 3: Try to answer the

question

It is true that they did use some violent tactics – they firebombed churches and attacked politicians. However, they used violent tactics alongside peaceful ones.

Suffragettes were not only violent campaigners. By using both types of tactics, the suffragettes hoped to win support from a cross section of people.

It is true that they did use some violent tactics – they firebombed churches and attacked politicians. However, they used violent tactics alongside peaceful ones.

People who were directly affected by the violence would have thought that the violence was over the top. However, it convinced other people that the suffragettes were determined to succeed.

Suffragettes were not only violent campaigners. By using both types of tactics, the suffragettes hoped to win support from a cross section of people.

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• How did the suffragettes use peaceful campaigning tactics?

• How did the suffragettes use violent campaigning tactics?

• Were the suffragettes too violent?

Suffragettes in the DockWomen’s Sunday


• How did the suffragettes use peaceful campaigning tactics?

• How did the suffragettes use violent campaigning tactics?

• Were the suffragettes too violent?

Label the pictureYou have 60 seconds…

Sum up this picture in one word:

Policeman

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• When the suffragettes moved to London, it provided opportunities for staging spectacular demonstrations.

• Women’s Sunday on 21st June 1908 was a large meeting held by the WSPU.

• It brought suffragettes from all over the UK to march in seven different processions through central London to Hyde Park.

• It was a highly organised demonstration attracting a crowd of 200,000 – one of the largest single demonstrations ever up to that time.

• Many dressed in the suffragette colours of purple, white and green and over 700 banners were carried.

• Emmeline Pankhurst spoke to the crowds and demanded that the government supported a bill for women’s suffrage.

• The organisers persuaded the authorities to remove a quarter of a mile of park railings to accommodate the processions that gathered in Hyde Park.

• Amongst the brass bands, singers and parades were 20 temporary platforms erected in a circle around the park for 80 different speakers to address the crowds.

Mini Quiz

1. When was Women’s Sunday?

1900

1914

19081908

Mini Quiz

2. Which suffrage leader addressed the crowds?

Emmeline Pankhurst

Millicent Fawcett

Herbert Asquith

Emmeline Pankhurst

Mini Quiz

3. How many people attended Women’s Sunday?

2,000

2,000,000

200,000200,000

Which of these sources is the most useful to somebody trying to find out about Women’s Sunday?

“I am sure a great many people never realised until yesterday how young and dainty and elegant and charming most of the leaders of the movement are. And how well they spoke – with what free and graceful gesture; never at a loss for a word or an apt reply to an interruption; calm and collected; forcible, yet so far as I heard, not violent; earnest but happily humorous as well.”

Daily Mail, June 1908

A photograph of Women’s Sunday taken by a suffragette photographer in 1908

Step 1: What does each source say/show?Step 2: How reliable is each source?

(Think about about who made it, when and why)Step 3: How useful is each source?

(Think about what it shows and what is missing)


This source thinks that the campaigners were “elegant and charming” and seems surprised by the success of the demonstration.

Step 1: What does each source say/show?

Step 2: How reliable is each source?

(Think about about who made it, when

and why)

Step 3: How useful is each source?

(Think about what it shows and what is

missing)

Since the source appeared in a newspaper and was written by a journalist, it should accurately reflect the events of the day and shouldn’t twist things to make them out to be better or worse.

The photograph only shows one street leading up to Hyde Park. It doesn’t show the park itself or what is going on behind the camera – it is only a single snapshot of a single view.

Since the source appeared in a newspaper and was written by a journalist, it should accurately reflect the events of the day and shouldn’t twist things to make them out to be better or worse.

This source thinks that the campaigners were “elegant and charming” and seems surprised by the success of the demonstration.

The photograph only shows one street leading up to Hyde Park. It doesn’t show the park itself or what is going on behind the camera – it is only a single snapshot of a single view.

• Prime Minister Herbert Asquith sent a letter to Emmeline Pankhurst saying that he had nothing further to add to his previous statement: the government intended, at some point in the future, to bring in a general reform bill which might be amended to include female suffrage.

• Emmeline Pankhurst was disappointed and wrote: “our wonderful demonstration, it appeared, had made no impression on him”.

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RELIABLE

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D KH E P R Y A

HYDE PARK


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• What were the good things about Women’s Sunday?

• What were the bad things about Women’s Sunday?

• How successful were peaceful tactics in the struggle for women’s suffrage?

Suffragettes in the DockMary Richardson


• What were the good things about Women’s Sunday?

• What were the bad things about Women’s Sunday?

• How successful were peaceful tactics in the struggle for women’s suffrage?

What makes a good protester? You have 60 seconds…

Determined

• As suffragettes became more militant and violent, arrests became common.

• When they were in prison, many suffragettes went on hunger strike and had to be force fed.

• This was very unpopular and used by the suffragettes in their propaganda.

• To stop this, the government introduced the Cat and Mouse Act in 1912.

• Suffragettes could be released when they went on hunger strike and became ill, but could be rearrested when they regained their health.

• In March 1914, Emmeline Pankhurst was arrested by the police in Glasgow.

• The following day, Mary Richardson, a Canadian suffragette living in London, went to the National Gallery.

• She attacked the Rokeby Venus, a famous painting of a nude woman by Velazquez.

• Richardson slashed the painting with an axe seven times before being overpowered by a policeman and gallery attendant.

• She was sentenced to six months in prison, the maximum allowed by law.

• The newspapers nicknamed her Slasher Richardson.

True or False

1. Mary Richardson was protesting against the arrest of Emmeline Pankhurst

True

True or False

2. Mary Richardson attacked the Mona Lisa

False(it was the Rokeby Venus)

True or False

3. Mary Richardson was sentenced to six months in prison

True

Which of these sources is the most useful to an historian trying to find out about the attack on the Rokeby Venus?

Suffragette outrage - Rokeby Venus slashed with a chopperAt the National Gallery, yesterday morning, the famous Rokeby Venus, the Velasquez picture which eight years ago was bought for the nation by public subscription for £45,000, was seriously damaged by a militant suffragist connected with the WSPU. The woman, producing a meat chopper from her cloak, smashed the glass of the picture, and rained blows upon the back of the Venus.

Manchester Guardian, 11th March 1914

Step 1: What does each source say?Step 2: How reliable is each source?

(Think about about who made it, when and why)Step 3: How useful is each source?

(Think about what it says and what is missing)

I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in history as a protest against the Government for destroying Mrs Pankhurst, who is the most beautiful character in modern history. Justice is an element of beauty as much as colour and outline on canvas. Mrs Pankhurst seeks to procure justice for womanhood, and for this she is being slowly murdered by a government of betraying politicians.

Statement by Mary Richardson released by the WSPU after her arrest


The newspaper should describe the events without bias, because it is designed to inform its readers. Mary Richardson is trying to justify the attack, so presents her opinion and not those of the people against the suffragettes.

Step 1: What does each source say/show?

Step 2: How reliable is each source?

(Think about about who made it, when

and why)

Step 3: How useful is each source?

(Think about what it shows and what is

missing)

The statement by Mary Richardson is useful because it tells us the motivation behind the attack and why she thought it was necessary.

The newspaper describes the attack in negative terms, calling it an “outrage”, while Mary Richardson calls it “justice”.

The newspaper describes the attack in negative terms, calling it an “outrage”, while Mary Richardson calls it “justice”.

The newspaper should describe the events without bias, because it is designed to inform its readers. Mary Richardson is trying to justify the attack, so presents her opinion and not those of the people against the suffragettes.

The statement by Mary Richardson is useful because it tells us the motivation behind the attack and why she thought it was necessary.

HG U N R

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S HR E L S

SLASHER

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A UZ E Z E V L

VELAZQUEZ

Q



• What were the bad things about the attack on the Rokeby Venus?

• What were the good things about the attack on the Rokeby Venus?

• How successful were violent tactics in the struggle for women’s suffrage?

Suffragettes in the Dock Women’s suffrage – the arguments.

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