How did Women get the vote? Aim: To develop our understanding of how women tried to win the vote and to find out who the Suffragists and suffragettes were.

What progress had women made by 1900? You may have the impression that Victorian women had very little choice in how they lived and that most of them accepted their domestic role. For many women this was the case – but not for all. During the C19th a significant number of women turned against the conventional female role.

Josephine Butler 1878 – 1906 A campaigner for women’s rights, birth control and socialism. She began a series of famous campaigns for better treatment for prostitutes and for refuges for poor and ill women to be set up. Her most significant campaign was her fight against the contagious Diseases Acts introduced in 1866 and 1869.

Marie Lloyd 1870 – 1922 A very popular music – hall singer who performed in Britain, America and South Africa. Lloyd's songs, although perfectly harmless by modern standards, began to gain a reputation for being "racy" and filled with double entendre, ("She'd never had her ticket punched before" for example) largely thanks to the manner in which she sang them, adding winks and gestures, and creating a conspiratorial relationship with her audience. double entendre

Charlotte Bronte 1816 – 1855 A British novelist. Famous works include Jane Eyre. Bronte would use a pseudonym, to disguise the fact that she was a woman.

Charlotte Bronte 1816 – 1855 A British novelist. Famous works include Jane Eyre. Bronte would use a pseudonym, to disguise the fact that she was a woman.

Florence Nightingale 1820 – 1910 As a nurse during the Crimean War, Nightingale believed the high death rates were due to poor nutrition and supplies and overworking of the soldiers. It was not until after she returned to Britain and began collecting evidence before the Royal Commission on the Health of the Army, that she came to believe that most of the soldiers at the hospital were killed by poor living conditions. Consequently, she reduced deaths in the Army during peacetime and turned attention to the sanitary design of hospitals. Florence set up nurses’ training schools in Britain and helped to improve the standards of hospitals.

Suffrage The right to vote

A post card published by the National Union of Women’s suffrage Societies (NUWSS) in the early 1900’s.

Although women’s lives were starting to improve by the 1900’s, what could women still not do? VOTE As a result campaigns to get women the vote started. The campaigners were mostly middle-class women There were 2 main campaign movements…

The NUWSS or ‘The Suffragists’ Aim: To get women the vote Methods: The Suffragists used peaceful methods, for example – meetings, leaflets, petitions and speeches. Leader: Millicent Fawcett

The WSPU or ‘The Suffragettes’ Aim: To get women the vote Method: The suffragettes believed in ‘deeds not words’ and used many violent methods such as window smashing, arson and attacking policemen and politicians. Leader: Emmeline Pankhurst and her 2 Daughters, Christabel and Sylvia