Emmeline Pankhurst

Throughout history women have often been regarded as inferior to men and faced with the assumption that they would never amount to anything more than a housewife. Growing up in a time where women were regarded as unimportant, Emmeline Pankhurst had a firm grip on her beliefs that women were equal to men. Emmeline Pankhurst was able to improve the limited and unfair rights that women once had in Great Britain through her influence on society and her actions. She forever changed today’s society by constantly fighting all the opposition she faced when trying to obtain women’s rights, helping improve the voting rights for women and creating a legacy that you can achieve anything through perseverance. Without her strong will and ambition, the lives of women and other ambitious people would not be the same in modern day society.

Emmeline faced a large sum of opposition while trying to obtain women’s rights, however her efforts did not go unneeded. Her first opposition was the local authorities. Emmeline organized open-air meetings on Sunday’s in the local park, however she was told that this behavior needed to stop and people began to get arrested when it did not (Simkin, J. (n.d.)). Without these open-air meetings Emmeline would not have been able to air her opinions to the public or create a stable group of women to support and help her in her cause. Without this, women would have not been able to obtain the vote or been treated equally to men. In 1905 the Womens Suffrage and Polotical Unit (WSPU) began to use different methods to gain publicity and attention toward their cause. (Simkin, J. n.d.). Emmeline and other members of the supporters of women’s suffrage began to get imprisoned for destroying public property. Emmeline was constanly facing opposition toward her from the police, however if she did not continue to obtain womens rights this society would still be stuck with the limited and unfair rights which they once had. Emmeline faced opposition from the membors of parliament when trying to gain votes for women, but she continued to organize a large rally in the house of commons and demanded the right to vote.
“Those women had followed me to the House of Commons. They had defied the police. They were awake at last thev were prepared to do something that women had never done before - fight for themselves. Women had always fought for men, and for their children. Now they were ready to light for their own human rights. Our militant movement was established.” (Simkin, J. (n.d.)) this shows that Emmeline lead a large amount of women to face the opposition which was coming in the way of her and justice. Emmeline then continued to face opposition from the authorites by being arrested a number of times before finally proving her worth in World War 1. Without continually facing oppostion and being imprisoned the public would have lost interst in women’s suffrage, so her efforts were definietly needed. Perhapse the largest opposition that Emmeline faced in her lifetime was the WW1. She declared a truce between the WSPU and then assisted in the war, as she belived that it was her patriotic duty. Through this action all the suffrage prisoners were released and as a by-product of the war women were able to prove their worth and participate in jobs that previously only men had (Emmeline Pankhurst . 2013). By facing the opposition which the war brought attitudes toward women were forever changed and parliament felt that they were more deserving of the vote. On January 10th, 1916, women over the age of 30 were presented with the ability to vote. In 1918 all women were presented with the right to vote, so Emmeline had almst defeated all the oppression which women faced.

Emmeline was able to influence the oppression of women and help them be presented with the opportunity to vote. Women wanted and needed the opportunity to vote just as badly as men, however they were viewed as insignificant and less important than men so they were not presented with the chance. Emmeline dedicated her live to women’s suffrage, as she strongly believed that women desperately needed the power that voting would give them (Hollyer, B. ,2003). At first the main intent of her struggles was to recruit working class women into the struggle of getting the vote (Simkin, J. (n.d.)). Women only had limited and unfair rights in relation to voting, and without Emmeline taking inisitive and grouping together women, their rights would not have been improved. Without the vote in modern day society women would not be able to have a say in who governed them and issues that related directly to them. In 1917 Emmeline and her daughter Christabel went on to from the Womens Party which supported,
“Equal pay for equal work, equal marriage and divorce laws, the same rights over children for both parents, equality of rights and opportunities in public service, and a system of maternity benefits.” (Simkin, J. (n.d.)). Without Emmelines strong belief in equality of men and women, the ability to vote may still be something unheard of in today’s society. Voting ables the ability to have an opinion in who is able to goven society and who is able to make descisions on behalf of the community as a whole. Women were not able to have an opinion on who they wanted making decisions for them and who they wanted to represent them, which limited their beliefs and was unfair toward all of them. The fruit of Emmelines labors was finally made officaial in 1918, when women were granted the right to finally vote. For many people Emmeline symbols the struggles and unjust nature which women faced in the 1900s and without her influence on society the women who live today may have led very different lives. (Trueman, C. (2013)). Emmeline also created a long lasting legacy through her success in granting women the vote.

Emmeline would not have been able to improve the voting rights for women without the use of her will power and ambition. She showed her ambition through creating the Women’s Social and Political Unit (WSPU), willingly going to jail so support her cause and an abundance of hunger strikes. After her husband’s passing in 1898, she had to begin working to create an income for her family. By working in Manchester at a low paying job, she realized how badly women needed the power which voting would give them (Hollyer, B. 2003). Emmeline then founded the cv she is fighting for a cause that she believed in and gathering people who have the same interests together to further improve the power of the organization. This changed modern day society by showing people that with ambition and a bit of logical thinking, great people can be brought together and things can be improved. Emmeline began to frequently go in and out of prison as the WSPU introduced the tactic of breaking windows (Simkin, J. (n.d.)). This is other evidence of her ambition and perserverance as she was willing to do anyting to being publicity to the organization to try and win votes and she even sarctficed going to prison to make sure the organization was on the front of many political minds. This influenced modern day society as she showed that if you are passionate about a cause you will do anything to try and promote or influence others of this. Emmeline went on a large amount of hunger strikes to also try and bring the attention of the members of parliament to the cause which many women were supporting. It got to the point that Emmeline had to be wheeled to an WSPU meeting as she was incredibly weak (Hollyer, B. 2003). This tactic was used also to get the attention of the public, because as soon as publicity died down so did the attention from parliament. This influenced modern society by showing that passion can also lead to self sacrifice and that ambition can lead people to do idiotic but nessicary things for the cause that they care about. The motto for the WSPU was “deeds not words,” and this proved to be successful because when parliament did not listen to their words, they took action into their own hands and this is a prime example of what ambition is (Hollyer, B. 2003). These actions have made modern day society an acceptiable place to do crazy yet admirable things for the causes which people belive in and these wonderful acts would not exist if it were not for Emmeline Pankhurst.

Emmeline Pankhurst left a long lasting legacy that has continued on way into modern society. She was a main reason as to why women are able to be equally treated to men and have a right to vote. Emmeline did improve the limited and unfair rights that women once had in Great Britain through her influence on society and her action. She is also the reason that people find passion and ambition in ways that are effective to their cause. Without Emmeline women may still not have a say in any issues, even issues that concern women. Modern day society has an apparent influence from Emmeline and would not be the same if it were not for her brave and determined actions that have left her a legacy, which will continue to be remembered.