Suffragettes

Good points from MOnica. I'm a bit ashamed to admit I learne about the suffragists and Millicent Fawcett's work from Mr iam64, who is a great supporter of non violent actions. My mum taught me about the suffragettes and encouraged her 3 daughters to be politically interested and always to vote. She wanted us to be Liberals like her but came to terms with 3 Labour voters fairly quickly.

I don't want to 'Discuss' your post any longer MOnica, but to agree with it and say thanks for reminding us all that the Suffragettes dominate the history, despite the Suffragists achieving so much and having so many more supporters.

I agree that the suffragettes have probably hogged the limelight MOnica. The question of how many of the women suffragists supported their actions is one that it is difficult to answer. The suffragettes were mainly young, unmarried women who were able to spend time in prison and recuperating afterwards, however they were supported by an extensive network that supplied them with blankets whilst in prison, celebrations when they were released and places to recover from forced feeding. We should also remember that not all men over 21 had the vote until 1918 and some organisations such as the Women's Labour League were advocating universal suffrage. Incidentally did you know that the age of 30 for women was set in 1918 because if the age had been set at 21 (as it was for men) there would have been more women voters than men.
I thought the main reason accepted for not giving the vote to women was the Liberal government's fear of losing power if women were given the vote. And that is why successive Bills failed to get through parliament.

I saw the film last night and what shocked me most was according to the credits at the end Switzerland didn't give women he vote until 1974!

Sorry, that should have been 1971.

I saw a pre-release showing of Suffragette last Sunday.

I have a 14 year old grand -daughter and a 15 year old grand -son and would definitely let them see it.

It deals with other issues too apart from votes for women... such as predatory grooming and the sexual exploitation of women in the workforce.

I do however have one reservation..... many of the people seeing the film will know nothing about Suffragettes, and will leave the cinema thinking that Maud was a real life character - she wasn't... and that two Suffragettes went to The Derby... they didn't.

Apart from that it does a good job in reminding us all of the importance of free speech and universal suffrage.

Thanks for letting us know about the museum in the East End - have signed the petition and made a small donation to show I really believe in the cause. I'm afraid it shows the age we live in, that people believe Jack the Ripper is a more worthy cause to promote in a museum than the exploits of a few 'cranky' women! I watched an excellent programme a few months ago that was on either BBC2 or BBC4 that told all about the suffragette movement. I was enraged by what I learnt and it increased my admiration for those brave women. I have brought up 3 daughters insisting that they take their right to vote seriously, as people suffered and died to earn it for those who followed. It frustrates me that there are so many people who are unaware of the privilege they ignore!

www.change.org/p/7-out-10-mps-are-men-sign-our-petition-asking-for-better-gender-balance-in-parliament?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=417867&alert_id=PJlsLgLsuj_jem00yb6i4FucdLplnimXRxTSeKZNqfCDLYxjOFrzLE%3D#petition-letter

An interesting campaign. Cannot imagine Cameron will take any notice of it. We can but hope.

Anyone who goes to Beamish, there is going to be a suffragette living in the town, next to the music teacher, I hope, not the dentist.

Saw the film this afternoon and was really moved by it. I think it should be required viewing in senior schools and by both sexes. I had a row with my own DD some years ago as she said she could not be bothered to vote and I was really shocked by her attitude. I was also surprised like Zephrine that Switzerland didn't give women the vote until the seventies!

Not sure if this has been mentioned but Tony Benn put a plaque in the broom cupboard in the House of Commons where Emily Davison hid.

There was a good article in The Independent a couple of weeks ago about women in Switzerland not having the vote. I, too was surprised to learn about it.

I realised only recently that I live in the country that first gave women the vote. Well done NZ.

If you want your Children to learn about suffragettes,it's no good telling them to watch the film.That will only give them the perspective of the writer.Its a film for feminists for --sake.

At least watching the film would give people an awareness of what happened that they would not have otherwise had. If I think about it the main reason for me knowing about the movement is because of my passion for horse racing, the story of Emily Davidson obviously being well documented. Going off at a tangent again but I mentioned Edith Cavell to my daughter, who is a history teacher, and she'd never heard of her .

Mmm Suffragette film is OK -better than nothing but so many inaccuracies. E.W Davison looks as healthy and chipper as anything, but she had been force-fed many times, had fallen/thrown herself down the stairs in prison and just before Epsom was up in the NE recuperating at her mums. And there weren't many working-class women in the WSPU (Annie Kenney was the exception). EWD did spend the night of the census in a cupboard in the House of commons and Tony Benn did put up a plaque to remember her. We should also remember that a lot of working class men did not have the vote then- their were property requirements.

sorry-there

I don't think that she did mean to kill herself, but wanted to put a banner on the Kings horse. How she managed to pick out the right horse, given the speed that they were going at is amazing.[not having seen the film I don't know how that bit was depicted though]. I know this is awfully shallow of me but I was so relieved to know that the horse survived .

Just seen the film and I'm not sure about it; it just felt, to me that someone had worked out which points needed to be put across in the film and then created Maud's character to act them out, but Mauds actions didn't ring true to me. I'm hoping that the BBC documentary will still be on catchup as I'd like to see it.

I wondered if a working class woman like Maud would have been treated as an equal, more or less, by the upper class Suffragettes. I doubt it. But maybe I'm just bitter and twisted.

I was profoundly moved, but also upset, by the Maud story. (Avoiding spoilers...)

I was taught in an all girls school with an all female staff. They had been to university in a time when few women were allowed and some would have studied, but not been able to be awarded a degree, like their male counterparts

They were very keen to teach us about the women's suffrage movement and how it gave us, as young women, the freedoms we had. Although at that time there were still inequalities to be rectified!

The film was inaccurate in places, but it gets people talking and brings issues to the the fore that people might not have thought about previously.

I really enjoyed it. Maybe a copy will be sent to every secondary school, like they did with Schindler's list.

x

They said at the cinema that large groups of schoolchildren had seen it. I did wonder, as I was watching it what women have actually achieved with their right to vote, though, given that women [imo] are less war like than men and yet the world is constantly at war in some place or other. Was shocked [but not surprised] to read that Saudi women still don't have the right to vote.

It's an interesting question Tegan. The suffrage movement did not just want the vote and some of their aims took much longer to implement. Equal pay for equal work, better conditions in the workplace, feeding poor children. They campaigned on all of these.
I believe the character of Maude is loosely based on Annie Kenney
www.co-op.ac.uk/politicalwomen/cs3_1.html

Thanks trisher; that was really interesting.

Do you really think it is a good thing to watch even if it is filled with inaccuracies?
It must be just me then.

I think the inaccuracies are probably outweighed by the amount of information it gives to people who know very little about what happened. The portrayal of forcible feeding, the police assaults, the death of EWD are all actualities. The lack of rights a mother had over her children shocks many. Some things are obviously written for the US market and Maud is a little unlikely but taken as a whole I think it does more good than harm. The question of if it is a good film is entirely another one-story line a bit trite, characters stereotypes, mostly predictable.