THE SUFFRAGETTES

Do you know when the move for women to have the vote began? It really started in 1897, when Millicent Fawcett founded the National Union of Women’s Suffrage. “Suffrage” means the right to vote and that is what women wanted – hence its inclusion in Fawcett’s title.

Who was Millicent Fawcett?

Millicent Fawcett believed in peaceful protest. She felt that any violence or trouble would persuade men that women could not be trusted to have the right to vote. Her game plan was patience and logical arguments. Fawcett argued that women could hold responsible posts in society such as sitting on school boards – but could not be trusted to vote; she argued that if parliament made laws and if women had to obey those laws, then women should be part of the process of making those laws; she argued that as women had to pay taxes as men, they should have the same rights as men.

Fawcett’s progress

Fawcett’s progress was very slow. She converted some of the members of the Labour Representation Committee (soon to be the Labour Party) but most men in Parliament believed that women simply would not understand how Parliament worked and therefore should not take part in the electoral process. This left many women angry and in 1903 the Women’s Social and Political Union was founded by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia. They wanted women to have the right to vote and they were not prepared to wait. The Union became better known as the Suffragettes. Members of the Suffragettes were prepared to use violence to get what they wanted.

A portrait of Dame Millicent appeared in a 2008 British postage stamp to commemorate International Women’s

The origin of the word ‘Suffragette’

At first, the women’s movement was named suffragist. By the 1900s when newspapermen were tasked about the women's movement, they called it Suffragette in a denigrating way. At that time, the suffix -ette­ was used to convey that the thing was smaller, feminine and female, as well as imitative and inferior. The word suffragette was used to describe strictly women, the type who were disrupting local meetings and spitting on policemen, the type who were getting arrested and going on hunger strikes in prison.

Many high-profile British advocates, particularly those associated with the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), decided to embrace the term that had caught on so quickly in the press. The word might be used to mock them, and it might have connotations of disapproval, but it was also associated with action, disruption and demanding to be heard, no matter the cost.

The colours of the Suffragettes

‘Purple as everyone knows is the royal colour, it sands for the royal blood that flows in the veins of every suffragette, the instinct of freedom and dignity… white stands for purity in private and public life… green is the colour of hope and the emblem of spring.’, explained Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, editor of the weekly newspaper, Votes for Women.

Therefore, in 1908, the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), adopted the colours purple, white and green, that distinguished them in their political movement and it became a huge marketing success.

One of the intentions of the colours was to promote public awareness of the belief for suffrage in England.

Votes for Women sash in colours of Women’s Social Political Union

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