Concetti Chiave
- Millicent Fawcett founded the National Union Of Women’s Suffrage in 1897, advocating for women's voting rights through peaceful protest, emphasizing equality in societal roles and responsibilities.
- The Suffragette Movement, led by Emmeline Pankhurst from 1903, adopted more aggressive tactics for women's voting rights, including public disruptions and imprisonment as tools of protest.
- Suffragettes engaged in acts of vandalism and hunger strikes to draw attention to their cause, prompting the government to implement the Cat and Mouse Act to manage imprisoned protestors.
- World War I shifted the suffrage landscape, with Suffragettes pausing violent actions to support the war effort, leading to legislative victories like the 1918 Representation of the People Act in the UK.
- Efforts to combat language-based gender discrimination include proposals from the European Parliament to adopt gender-neutral terms, promoting inclusivity and reducing bias in communication.
Indice
Millicent Fawcett and Suffrage
In 1897 Millicent Fawcett founded the National Union Of Women’s Suffrage. The word “suffrage” means the right to vote and that was what women aimed at. Millicent Fawcett was convinced that only peaceful protest could really work. She believed that since women can be part of the society, have to obey Parliament’s laws and pay taxes as men, then they must be trusted to vote and have the same rights as men such as taking part in the process of making laws. She made few progresses, one of them was to convert some members of the future Labour Party but the majority of men in Parliament still thought that women couldn’t understand how Parliament worked.
The Suffragette Movement
In 1903 another movement, the Women’s Social and Political Union, was founded by Emmeline Pankhurst. They wanted women to have the right to vote too but they couldn’t wait anymore and were ready to imply violence in order to achieve their aim, this movement became known soon as the Suffragettes. They started relatively peacefully but in 1905 some of the Suffragettes interrupted a political meeting in Manchester to ask two politicians, Winston Churchill and Sir Edward Grey, if they believed women should have the right to vote but no one replied. At that time such obtrusive actions were not allowed and tolerated. The two leaders of the movement, Pankhurst and Kenney, were sent away from the meeting and arrested but they refused to pay a fine and preferred going to prison so that they could highlight the injustice of the system. According to Emmeline Pankhurst that act was the first one in England and in any other country to point out the desire of women to vote.
Violent Actions of the Suffragettes
The first decade of Britain of twentieth century was really violent and significant actions were undertaken: some churches were burned since the Church of England didn’t agree with them, they vandalized, breaking windows in Oxford Street, they chained themselves to Buckingham Palace because the Royal Family seemed to be against their ideal; others refused to pay taxes.
When Suffragettes go to prison they rejected eating and made up an hunger strike. The government was very concerned that they might die in prison, consequently prison officers were ordered to force feeding those women. The government of Asquith published the Cat and Mouse Act, by means of which if Suffragettes in prison started an hunger strike, when they get weaker and weaker, prison authorities released them from prison so they died out of prison and there was not responsibilities for the government. They were so weak that they could take no part in violent protests but sometimes the most resilient ones were arrested and released and then they were re-arrested and the whole process started again. On the contrary, the Suffragettes became more extreme. In 1913 Emily Wilding Davison threw herself under the King’s horse, in a public street: she died and the movement had its first martyr. All these violent actions could have worse consequences, indeed men discussed about the fact that women should really deserve the right to vote.
War and Suffrage
In 1914 there was the outbreak of World War I; Emmeline Pankhurst instructed the Suffragettes to stop their campaign of violence and support the government and its war effort. Later, in 1918, the Representation of the People Act was passed by Parliament.
Instead, in USA, when the country was officially founded the right of vote was really limited, only men who owned a property could vote. When all men obtained the universal suffrage women were still excluded since they were considered inferior respect to women. They founded women’s activist groups and they organized conventions in order to remove every prejudice in men’s mind. However, not all women agreed on universal suffrage: there were anti-suffrage women groups who thought that women shouldn’t get involved in politics. These women were afraid that giving rights to the poor, both men and women, would lead to the loss of their privileges. In 1890 the National American Woman Suffrage Association was founded but as in England things really changed when the USA entered World War I when women had to replace men in factories and in offices. Eventually, in 1920, women obtained the right to vote in the United States.
Language and Gender Discrimination
Languages can have a male inclination too. The European Parliament proposed guidelines to change some terms that could be considered as “discriminatory because they are only used in the masculine.” We should say ‘humanity’ than ‘mankind’ and ‘police officer’ instead of ‘policeman’. These proposals aimed at a gender-inclusive language to eliminate discriminatory expressions, towards both women and men.
Domande da interrogazione
- What was Millicent Fawcett's approach to achieving women's suffrage?
- How did the Suffragette Movement differ from Millicent Fawcett's approach?
- What were some of the violent actions taken by the Suffragettes, and what was the government's response?
- How did World War I impact the suffrage movement in the UK and the USA?
- What efforts have been made to address gender discrimination in language?
Millicent Fawcett believed in peaceful protest as the most effective method for achieving women's suffrage. She argued that since women were part of society, obeyed laws, and paid taxes, they deserved the right to vote and participate in law-making processes.
The Suffragette Movement, founded by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903, was willing to use violence to achieve women's voting rights. Unlike Fawcett's peaceful methods, the Suffragettes engaged in disruptive actions, such as interrupting political meetings and enduring imprisonment to highlight systemic injustices.
The Suffragettes engaged in violent actions like burning churches, vandalizing property, and hunger strikes in prison. The government responded with force-feeding and the Cat and Mouse Act, which allowed the temporary release of weakened hunger strikers to avoid responsibility for their deaths.
During World War I, Emmeline Pankhurst instructed the Suffragettes to support the war effort, leading to the Representation of the People Act in 1918 in the UK. In the USA, women's contributions during the war helped shift public opinion, resulting in women gaining the right to vote in 1920.
The European Parliament proposed guidelines to replace terms considered discriminatory due to their masculine usage, such as using 'humanity' instead of 'mankind' and 'police officer' instead of 'policeman,' aiming for a gender-inclusive language to eliminate discriminatory expressions.
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