EDWARDIAN LIFE : THE SUFFRAGETTES

In 1905, life for women would have been very different when compared with today. Although there had been many changes over the preceding 50 years, women were still seen as very different to men under both the eyes of society and the Law. Women were educated differently, they had fewer rights both in and out of marriage, and they weren't able to vote in national elections.

Much of this stemmed from the view that marriage, rather than a career, was a woman's "natural destiny", and that if a woman did not marry, her life was in some way a failure. In fact, until the 1960's, the standard experience in life for almost every woman in Britain would be to get married. In 1901, 85% of women over 45 were either married or widowed.

There had been women's movements for years which had campaigned for suffrage (the right to vote), but in 1903, Emmeline Pankhurst set up the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) --- and this was to be a very different organization  from those that went before.

 Rather than campaign by polite political pressure --- heckling in meetings and refusing to pay fines --- the WSPU's motto was "Deeds Not Words."

The Union's members --- or suffragettes" --- lived up to their motto. These women threw eggs, they chained themselves to railings, scattered marbles under police horses' hooves, and some even went on hunger strike. Famously, suffragette Emily Davison, ran out in front of the King's horse during the Derby in June 1913 and was killed while campaigning for the suffragette cause.
It was not until after World War One that their campaigning had results. In the Representation of the People Act in 1918, all women over 30 were given the right to vote alongside adult males.
(Info from The Manor House)