Gentle terror: how suffragists fought for women's freedom

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Hammers in a clutch, whips and knitting needles - in the fight against the power of men, all the means at hand were used. At the beginning of the twentieth century, decisive ladies in hats and gloves made scandals and hooligans, staged fights and hunger strikes, defending civil liberties for women … There is no unequivocal assessment of their actions. But there are indisputable achievements, as well as a spring holiday, at the origins of which were tireless suffragettes.

The leader of the suffragette movement, literally meaning "the right to vote", Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) could not forget the fatherly phrase he dropped over his sleeping daughter: Father Emmilyn did not suspect that at that moment he changed not only the life of his daughter, but also of many women Europe

In addition to being selective, suffragettes sought property rights, higher education, divorce rights, and wages. The first suffragette manifesto, the Declaration of Feelings, proclaimed: Initially, the struggle for civil liberties was decent. However, no one paid attention to letters, appeals in the press, lecture debates. This forced the activists to change their strategy.

The tricks of emancipated women were distinguished by ingenuity and shocking. Suffragettes rummaged through golf courses, at that time an exclusively male game, destroyed paintings (for example, the work of Velazquez "Venus in front of the mirror"), which, as they thought, offend the dignity of sex, threatened with reprisals against members of the government, and organized riots.

Among the hated male politicians, the suffragists had a particular dislike for Churchill. When one of the activists called him a drunken dork, he contemptuously replied: The answer hurt the suffragists so much that it was followed by threats and attacks on Churchill with stones, sticks and even a whip. The politician presented the taken whip to his wife.

Among the famous suffragettes, the name Emily Davison is known. Her actions were quite radical. For example, she planted a bomb on the home of a high-ranking official, David Lloyd George. Even many of the women did not approve of such measures. Emily Davison died under the hooves of a horse, towards which she jumped out during the races. According to one version, the Englishwoman wanted to attach the flag of the women's movement to the tail of the royal horse. Emily died of her injuries four days later.

But not only politicians became the objects of energetic ladies. They successfully attracted the attention of the general public with spectacular and colorful processions. Women adorned white dresses with flower chains. They walked with a howl, crying to the sound of drums and wind instruments. The number of such demonstrations could reach 30,000. Numerous spectators gathered to gawk at the unusual parades.

Sometimes the events took on an overtly aggressive and threatening character. One of the events in London, organized by the suffragettes, is preserved in history under the name "Kristallnacht". Women, carrying stones and hammers in muffs, smashed shop windows and windows of houses. Fragile ladies fought off the police, stormed state institutions. Awards were established for special achievements in the movement, but the suffragists were rebuffed with no less brutality. Women were beaten with truncheons, locked up en masse in prisons, and exiled to hard labor. The harsh and provocative actions of the women's movement have nevertheless led to changes in society, which are now taken for granted. Of course, the decisiveness with which the rights and interests were defended could also cause ridicule, which vividly demonstrate venomous retro cartoons of suffragettes.