Were the Suffragettes’ Violent Actions Justified or Not?
In year 6, I have been learning about the suffragettes and it got me wondering were their militant actions justified or not. In this article, I will discuss my personal opinion about whether it helped their cause or not…
The Suffragettes (WSPU) were a militant organization who campaigned, sometimes rather violently, for women’s suffrage (the right to vote) mainly in the UK. The WSPU were founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst. On the flip side, the NUWSS were also a group who were campaigning for women’s suffrage Founded in 1897 by Millicent Fawcett.
The reasons I believe that their actions helped themselves are:
- It brought news coverage.
- It got their cause noticed by more people.
My reasons against why I think it didn’t help their cause are:
They had a lower number of members than the NUWSS (as it had 100,000 members compared to the WSPU’s measly 20,000 members) which suggests they were unpopular.
It hurt the image of women in general by making them seem like violent, rabid animals.
But in my opinion though, overall the Suffragettes and WSPU’s violence did most definitely helped their cause – these actions are why they are still remembered today.
Thx for reading. If you have an opinion please leave a comment 😀
