Free Sample Essays > Sociology
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What methods did the suffragettes use, and how effective were these in gaining the vote for women?
The Suffragettes and Suffragists used a variety of methods, some of which were effective, and others that were not, during their campaign. Both groups used methods with the single aim of gaining publicity, such as demonstrations, these were highly successful and effective. However, where the NUWSS and WSPU needed to use effective methods, was when persuading Parliament that women should have the vote. It was here that the methods that they used were ineffective, even though they ranged form lobbying MPs, to Private Members Bills, and even heckling. The suffragettes felt that the suffragists were not making any progress with their campaign for the vote, and the NUWSS felt that the WSPUs militant tactics undermined all of the work that they had carried out for ten years. These two viewpoints of each parties approaches being ineffective, effectively cancels out the efforts undertaken by each organisation, and therefore suggesting that neither group had any effect at all. So, if neither group used methods effective of gaining the vote for women, then how was the vote obtained in 1918? Perhaps the most effective method that both societies used, was the one that could only be prompted by the outbreak of war in 1914, this method being the postponing of their campaigns to help the war effort. This and other influencing factors such as the work of women during the war helped lead to some women obtaining the vote in 1918. Had there not have been the war, would the case for female suffrage have continued with fruitless results, it is not known. What is known, are the ways in which the two major groups associated with female suffrage campaigned before 1914. Before discussing the ways in which these two organisations attempted to reach their goals, it is important to look at each of the organisations individually to understand their viewpoint and their specific aims.
The title ‘suffragist’ was given to any female who was a member of an organisation known as the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). The NUWSS was formed in 1897 and one of its most prominent leaders was Millicent Fawcett, the daughter of a merchant who was sympathetic to the feminism, the younger sister of the first English woman doctor, the widow of a former Liberal Cabinet Minister, and a close friend of John Stuart Mill. Fawcett’s connections within her family and close friends, was typical of suffragist leader, with these amounting in her being committed to social reform in a wider context. Some families were labelled ‘suffrage families’ such as Pruscilla Bright, whose brother defended women suffrage in Parliament and whose sons and daughters-in-law were all women’s suffrage activists. This kinship, friendship, religious and political circle to which many suffragists belonged, provided women with the emotional and moral support required to lead an unconventional campaign. The suffragists were strong in the end [next page]