Evolution Of Escalation: The Women's Rights Movement

Hunter Panoch Professor Houseman HIST 317 Modern Britain Social Movements 3/29/2024.

The Evolution Of Escalation: How The Women's Rights Movement Changed Over Time.

The transition from the nineteenth-century liberal women's suffrage movement to the early twentieth-century suffrage activism movement was epitomized by leading figures like Emmeline Pankhurst and Millicent Fawcett. They each contributed to a significant evolution in tactics and ideology and brought about notable changes in methods, leadership, and goals over the decades. As society underwent new transformations, the women's suffrage movement had to evolve to stay relevant. New organizations organized strategies and goals to keep pace with the ever-moving societal changes. While
The suffragists also wished to reform marriage and property laws to allow married and unmarried women to vote. This original movement did not have a focus on universal voting rights. Fawcett and her followers worked for nearly 50 years with little success, which later inspired and radicalized the movement's new leaders. However, small successes were found in women’s educational opportunities during this period. Slowly, and while still facing severe restrictions, some progress was made as women began being allowed to attend certain classes at certain prestigious institutions like Oxford and Cambridge. Yet, these educational advancements were scorned by the inability of women to obtain degrees or pursue higher education as equals to men. By the end of the century a women's renaissance was beginning to take place, with the idea of the "New Woman.” An ideal during this period that was defined by the desire for more female autonomy, independence, and education. This revolution was exacerbated by the industrial movement moving more women into working positions, and the invention of the bicycle which allowed more women to become independently mobile. “By the 1880s, suffragists' arguments had
The suffragettes went on to promote activism that led to jail sentences after seeing the outcome of attention drawn to the cause. They understood the potential to provoke a reaction in the press, which in turn would further rally public support. Celebrations became common following the release of imprisoned women, further raising the visibility of the suffrage movement. This media attention played a pivotal role in shifting public discourse and bringing the issue of women's suffrage to the forefront of national consciousness. Emmeline Pankhurst acknowledged the power of these arrests, noting that the cause had not garnered such widespread coverage in the past. The suffragettes developed more of these strategic plans such as hunger strikes, arson, vandalism, and other forms of public civil disobedience. The hunger strike was partially effective and was pioneered by Marion Wallace Dunlop in 1909. Hunger strikes emphasized their commitment to nonviolent, but serious, protest. Mayhall described it as the following, “After members of the WSPU initiated hunger strikes in the summer of 1909 to protest incarcerations in the second division, suffragettes and