SUFFRAGIST OR SUFFRAGETTE?

People often think that all women who campaigned for the vote were suffragettes but this is not quite true. Some were suffragists and some were suffragettes. Both wanted votes for women but they campaigned in very different ways. Suffragists believed in using only peaceful, law-abiding methods to win the vote. Most were members of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). Formed in 1897 and led by Millicent Fawcett, the NUWSS was the largest women’s suffrage organisation. Suffragettes by contrast were prepared to break the law. They used dramatic actions, rushing the Houses of Parliament, pestering politicians, chaining themselves to railings and generally challenging the government in any way that drew attention to their cause. As time went on suffragettes became increasingly militant (war-like), breaking windows, setting fire to post boxes and planting bombs. Suffragettes tended to be members of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), set up in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters, Christabel and Sylvia.

What’s in a name?

In 1906 the Daily Mail used the word “suffragette” as an insult to describe the women who were hounding politicians. Rather than being insulted, WSPU members embraced the term and used it with pride. They have been known as suffragettes ever since.

“You see when we behave ourselves they take no notice of us, and we are not going on like that any more.”

Miss Lambert, Hastings WSPU