Remembering the Suffragettes

Women’s rights movements have been active since the 18th century, and 2018 is the anniversary of women’s right to vote in the UK.  The political reform came as a result of the Suffragette movement led by political activist Emmeline Pankhurst and the women’s union she founded called the Women’s Social Political Union (WSPU).  Their slogan was, “Deeds, not words.: Pankhurst helped promote women’s equality in public life, and is recognized as one of the most important women of the 20th century.  Having been born on Bastille Day, she said she felt a kinship with the women who had stormed the Bastille.

The suffragettes cited spiritual reasons for their activism. The movement was not primarily political; it was social, moral, psychological, and profoundly religious. British suffragettes often used Joan of Arc as a symbol.

Emily Davison was a militant member of the WSPU, and fought for women’s right to vote.  She was a staunch feminist and believed that socialism was a moral and political force for good. Her tragic death after being hit by King George V’s horse has remained a mystery to present day, but Davison is considered to be a hero.  In film footage from the accident, it seems that she had wanted to pin a suffragette banner on the king’s horse.

The “Representation of the People’s Act” in 1918 proposed the right for British women to vote, but only if they were over the age of 30, owned property, were a member or married to a member of the Local Government Register, or were a graduate in a university constituency. It was a restrictive and just the beginning of a process.  Women did not receive the same voting rights as men until 1928.  The Equal Franchise Act, which came a decade later, gave all women over the age of 21 the right to vote, property owners or not.

In 1792, English author and advocate for women’s rights, Mary Wollstonecraft, wrote, “A Vindication for the Rights of Women.” This would be the start of the women’s movement for equality and involvement in public affairs.

The 19th amendment giving women the right to legally vote in the U.S. was passed in 1920.  In the late nineteenth century, American suffragist Lucy Stone organized and promoted women’s rights.  She was called the heart and soul of the women’s rights movement, and influenced Susan B. Anthony to take up the cause. Stone initiated the first National Women’s Rights Convention and helped form the American Women Suffrage Association, (AWSA) which built support for a Constitutional amendment which would win women suffrage on the state and local levels.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American suffragist and social activist, president of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), worked jointly with Susan B. Anthony.  Stanton and Anthony were friends and colleagues and worked together for 59 years. Stanton wrote most of Anthony’s powerful speeches, and Anthony was the movement’s organizer and tactician. Together they created and produced “The Revolution,” a weekly publication that lobbied for women’s rights. At the gathering of the Seneca Falls Convention, Stanton read from her historical document “Declaration of Sentiments,” which argued for women’s freedom from the “tyranny” of patriarchy and for the right to vote for women.  The document planted the seed for women’s suffrage in America, and indirectly, for the forming of the League of Women’s Voters.

Stanton went on to write some of the most influential books on the women’s rights movement.  And when her organization, the NWSA merged with the AWSA to become NAWSA, she became its first president.  Later in her life, Stanton made a statement before the US Congress stating the need for a revamped understanding of women’s position in society.

Although the 19th Amendment technically gave all women the right to vote in 1920, black women’s voting rights weren’t protected; many were excluded from the suffragist movement.  Women of color were rebels against inequality, and were rebels during the time of the suffragette movement. Sojourner Truth and Ida B. Wells were gender inequality activists and fought for women’s rights. Sojourner Truth was a formerly enslaved abolitionist and suffragist who gave her famous speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?” at the 1851 Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. In it, Truth described the ways her racial identity impacts how she experiences womanhood. Ida B. Wells tried to highlight the similarities between the struggles against racism and sexism, despite some white women’s unwillingness to see that.

All the women who have tirelessly fought for gender equality and democracy in the world remind us of the power of activism, and that even just a few can create a mass movement.

Gender equality is a global human right’s norm. A woman’s right to vote is key to gender equality because we have the power to elect candidates who advocate for equality both in the U.S. and abroad.  Rights and equality have always been central to the woman’s vote.  According to Pew Research Institute, women perceive policy priorities differently than men.  Specifically on issues such as inequality regarding female reproductive rights, and unequal treatment based on ethnic, racial, or sexual orientation.

There are many global issues in the quest for gender equality today: Poverty is Sexist, and we cannot end extreme poverty unless we create equal opportunities for women and children in developing countries.  Education, ending child marriage, maternal health, and women’s rights to land and property, must all be achieved to make gender equality a reality.

Collectively, it is time to band together and use our history to make changes for a global movement.

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