Emmeline Pankhurst And The Suffragette Movement

Today we will explore the life and achievements of a political activist and suffragette. Emmeline Pankhurst was at the forefront of the movement that fought to give women the right to vote.

Emmeline Pankhurst has historically been a personification of the passionate belief that women deserve the same rights as men . She fought tirelessly all her life for women’s rights and fought to eradicate poverty and ignorance. 

Time Magazine considers her one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. She was a charismatic leader and a gifted speaker. She inspired many people to join her fight.

So how did her efforts unfold? How did she affect future generations? In what way did she manage to change her present, which in turn changed her future? In this article, we invite you to discover a little more about the wonderful Emmeline Pankhurst.

Early life

Emmeline Pankhurst was born on July 15, 1858. Her father, Robert Goulden, came from a family of political activists. Emmeline’s mother, Sophia Crane, was also a political activist from the Isle of Man. When Emmeline was a little girl, both her parents supported the movement to abolish slavery.

When she was 20 years old, she met and fell in love with a lawyer and political activist who supported women’s rights and school reform. His name was Richard Pankhurst, and he was 24 years older than Emmeline. They married and had five children.

The Suffragettes

Suffragist organizations at the time had begun to give in to the idea of ​​allowing only single women and widows to vote. Emmeline and her husband, for their part, completely rejected this proposal and started a new group, The Women’s Franchise League .

This new movement fought for all women’s right to vote, without exception, and equal rights to divorce and inheritance. Shortly after this establishment, the movement radicalized to an extreme left, and many members left.

Emmeline Pankhurst’s political career

After a long stay in London, Emmeline Pankhurst returned to Manchester. That was when she began to get involved in her own political activism. Emmeline eventually became a member of the Independent Labor Party after being rejected several times since she was a woman. She then became involved in the distribution of food through the Alms Committee for the Unemployed.

The state of poverty and helplessness she saw in people greatly affected her. The experience inspired her to become more involved in the reform movement for workers’ safety. After several cases, Richard became ill and died. He left Emmeline with a significant debt and responsibility for their entire family.

Pankhurst got a job at City Hall and began condemning women’s social conditions in the region. At the same time, her now adult daughters became involved in the suffragette movement. 

Deeds, not words

After being disappointed by political parties and suffragette organizations that achieved nothing, she decided to leave these groups. She then founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). This association was open to women and their motto was “Deeds, not word” (deeds, not words).

It did not take long before the WSPU radicalized and began to use violent tactics. Their goal was to get attention and revenge. They popularized window smashing, attacks on private property and hunger strikes in prisons.

The men in Pankhurst’s party and the authorities attacked her and others on several occasions. The authorities also imprisoned her several times. During this period she sold the house in Manchester and traveled through England and the United States and lectured on her work.

Emmeline Pankhurst and women’s suffrage

At the beginning of World War I, Emmeline negotiated with Parliament to secure the liberation of women from the WSPU. In return, she promised a ceasefire, that she would not commit more violent acts. The agreement also included the support of women from organizations that supported the British struggle against Germany.

This agreement created conflict within the movement. In fact, it was so controversial that it created an insurmountable rift between Emmeline and one of her daughters. After the war, she was disillusioned by left-wing politics and actually joined the Conservative Party.

At this time, conservative parties were most popular among the parties. Pankhurst wanted to use that energy for women’s suffragette movements. Her years of dedication and hard work paid off only a few weeks before she died at the age of 69. Pankhurst lived long enough to see women get the right to vote.

The violent side of Emmeline Pankhurst’s suffragette movement

Pankhurst was a controversial, energetic and radical activist. She attacked some political ideas and promoted others, never losing sight of her goal. People hated and loved her just as much. Pankhurst was an inspiration to women from all walks of life. 

To conclude, Emmeline Pankhurst represented the more radical side of the suffragette movement. Not everyone in the movement supported her violent methods, but these traditionally “masculine” strategies ended up being the ones that drew attention to the women’s cause. Pankhurst dared to speak the only language that the patriarchal system apparently understood: Violent protests. Whether one agrees with her tactics or not, one thing is clear: the system listened, and changed.