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?
and WSPU endorsed it. On the day of the census large numbers of women made elaborate arrangements to stay away from home for the night to avoid the enumerator. The most extreme of these being one member of the Women’s Freedom League spending the whole night on roller skates at the Aldwych Skating Rink, others stayed in offices, went to all night entertainments offered by suffrage societies or would offer their large house as a place to stay to others supporting the boycott.
These were the ways in which the NUWSS campaigned for female suffrage. They used methods of both a legal and illegal nature, with varied success. One thing that can be said about the suffragists and their campaigning is that in the beginning, their outrageous tactics, such as public speaking, created a lot of publicity for the party,
and raised awareness regarding votes for women. The meetings, demonstrations, pilgrimages and propaganda techniques were all effective in raising awareness and support, as shown by membership figures of 50,000 by 1914. However, the suffragists had little success persuading Parliament, which is the area in which they needed to have success to gain the vote. Their petitions were not radical enough to be sufficient of attention, their legal cases failed in court, and although they supported certain candidates during election time, disillusionment of the Liberal Party led to a large amount of wasted time and it was not until they began supporting Labour candidates that some success was shown. As for the illegal methods of tax evasion and census resistance, these were extremely moderate methods which were a nuisance at the time but did not create a large amount of fuss, therefore did not receive the attention from politicians that was desired. In conclusion some individual
methods were very effective in raising public awareness, which was the effect desired, such as public speaking, but the tactics employed when actually trying to obtain the vote, such as amendments to private members bills, were totally unsuccessful, and the only approach they could turn to would be a more militant one. The suffragists chose not to use militant methods, hence the birth of the WSPU. Some women obtained the vote in 1918, and you could argue that the methods of the suffragists were obviously successful as they achieved their main aim, even if it was for a select group of individuals. However, there were many other influencing factors in obtaining the vote for women, such as the suffragettes and the war. These must be taken into account, and therefore I would say that the methods of the suffragists were both highly unsuccessful and ineffective in obtaining the vote for women between 1897 and 1918. Due to the obvious lack in progress made by the suffragists, a new organisation established in 1903, known as the WSPU.
The WSPU was founded by [next page]