suffragettes

Waverley G.C.S.E History
Coursework Assignments
Assignment Two
Syllabus ‘C’ 1327
By Ola Akinlade
7/11/03
Women’s Right To Vote

The right to vote (suffrage) in general elections was given to women over thirty years of age in 1918. This new law was passed by parliament at the end of the First World War (1914-1918). Although on 2nd July 1928 the law was passed allowing all women over the age of 21 to vote. Some women had been campaigning for women’s right to vote for many years before the war started. ‘Suffragists’ was the name given to those women who campaigned peacefully for this; ‘Suffragettes’ was the name given to those women who used violence in their campaigns to secure the right to vote.

The Suffragettes produced eye-catching posters, organised demonstrations, broke shop windows, chained themselves to railings and set fire to post-boxes. Fights with police sometimes broke out and, when arrested and imprisoned, ...