The fight for women’s rights in the progressive era in the UK
and the US.
The Suffragette Movement got its name from the word ‘Suffrage’ the right to vote in political elections. This movement is a very
important event in history for women, as it led to equality in
society. Although gender-based discrimination still exists,
women are much better-off today, thanks to this movement. While
there is still much work to be done, it all started with this
movement in the early 19th century.
The major victory of the movement occurred in 1920 with the 19th
Amendment to the US Constitution said that suffrage "shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on
account of sex.”
 It is believed that this historic movement began at the Seneca Falls
Convention of 1848. Although suffrage was only one of the many
topics about equality that were discussed here among many men and
women representatives, women suffrage went on to be the most
important, as history tells us.
 This movement was led primarily by the “National American Woman
Suffrage Association” (NAWSA), which was founded by the merging
of two organisations – National Women’s Suffrage Association (NWSA)
and American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA).
 These two organisations were initially rivals in the subject of the 15th
Amendment, which gave suffrage to African American men, but did
not to women.
In the UK, the movement began when
philosopher John Stuart Mill petitioned to the
Parliament to grant suffrage to women. That
year, many committees for women’s suffrage,
which merged in 1897 into the National Union
of Women's Suffrage, led by Millicent Garret
Fawcett.
 Susan B
Anthony
Founder of the NWSA
 Elizabeth Cady
Stanton
Founder of the NWSA
 Lucy Stone
leader in the American
Woman Suffrage
Association
*1855 Marriage
Ceremony
 Millicent Garret
Fawcett
President of the
National Union of
Women's Suffrage
 Emmeline
Pankhurst
Founder of the Women’s
Social and Political
Union (WSPA)
 Carrie
Chapman Catt
President of NAWSA
after Anthony and cofounder of the Women’s
Peace Party and
International Woman
Suffrage Association
 Alice Paul
Proposer of the Equal
Rights Amendment after
1920
 The most prominent reason is that they were not seen as equal
to men. The role of women was limited to managing the
household, being a good wife, mother and daughter, and
bearing children. It was believed that business and politics
were the ‘areas of men’. Therefore, women were not granted
suffrage. In fact, African American men were given the right
before them!
 The second reason was that women would vote for Prohibition.
This reason is applicable for the 1910s, as the alcoholic men
were against the idea of Prohibition, which women supported as
they were affected adversely by their drunk husbands.
Map of voting rights for women before 1920.
 It took over a century of protests, starting in 1792, when
Mary Wollstonecraft published her book ‘A Vindication of
the Rights of a Women’. The 19th Century saw many
developments in the UK and the US, with women protesting,
picketing and petitioning. Women would go to voting
booths and file lawsuits if they were not allowed to vote. The
various organisations that were formed, like NAWSA, were
very vocal in their aims.
 Similarly, Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton led
in the US with their speeches and protests.
 Women like Emmeline Pankhurst and her
daughters – Christabel and Sylvia Pankhurst led the
movement in the UK. Frustrated by their same state,
they turned more rough, giving rise to a more
‘militant’ movement, with riots and civil
disobedience.
 During WW1, they stopped and started to support
the war effort to show their patriotism, in order to
get support from political leaders.
Women could vote in the US after
th
19
1920 with the signing of the
Amendment.
Women over the age of 30 could vote
in the UK from 1918, and suffrage for
men and women was made equal in
1928.
 https://www.thoughtco.com/womens-suffrage-activists-3530534
 http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/suffrage/history.htm
 https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise-to-world-power/1920s-
america/a/the-nineteenth-amendment
 https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/8/26/1791014/-August-26th-The-19th-
Amendment-Women-s-Right-To-Vote-Adopted-Into-The-US-Constitution