To what extent did the Suffragettes prompt positive change before 1918?

The Suffragettes prompted positive change by raising awareness of the cause and by running the movement efficiently. Their organisation is shown firstly by the strong media presence of the Suffragettes in magazines such as Punch which had a circulation of around 60,000 readers in 1905. The ability to get the cause into the media shows the way in which the Suffragettes promoted awareness and therefore prompted a positive change. People nationwide had access to the ideals of the movement and women were provided with a platform to speak out. This was greatly contrasted to the way a woman was expected to act prior to 1903 therefore creating positive societal change. This argument is backed up by Phillips who wrote that the movement was ‘one of the most highly organised societies in the country.’ The Suffragettes took this awareness further by creating sympathy for the cause through various channels including hunger strikes. The authority of leaders such as The Pankhurts in leading the Suffragettes to act in a way to gain sympathy shows strong unification and organisation. The sympathy created by the organised movement in order to prompt positive change is supported by Phillips when she wrote ‘The press was full of public sympathy; opponents of women’s suffrage were enraged’. However, despite the huge impact the good organisation had to the awareness of events such as force feeding, there does appear to be a detrimental effect on political voice and therefore limits the Suffragettes contribution to positive change. This is shown by the march to Buckingham Palace in 1914. Here, the Suffragettes were able to present a petition to the King bringing the total signatures to over a million. Despite the fact that the collection of the signatures proves the Suffragettes were prompting a positive change through organisation, the event resulted in 57 arrests due to the violence, limiting the chances for a change in legislation and a good media presence. The organised crime can therefore be seen as a limitation to the Suffragettes prompting a positive change. The divided opinion on the actions of the Suffragettes also provided a limitation. This is supported by Diane Atkinson who wrote that the split in the Suffrage movement and the often dictatorial leadership of the Suffragettes led critics to ‘found a new party, [for example] the Women’s Freedom League’ showing a failure of the Suffragettes’ organisation. The lack of unification would have slowed down the change of legislation therefore slowing down the progression towards a positive change in law. However, the impact of the Suffragettes’ organisation was significant in prompting positive change through impacting awareness and public opinion due to their controversial media presence. It was not necessarily the nature of the media representation that was important for the Suffragettes’ success in prompting positive change; it was the existence of a media presence itself, as awareness is the key to the success of a movement. Overall, these arguments, with the support of Phillips shows that the Suffragettes prompted positive change by raising awareness due to the new ability for people to express their feminist views. Despite a large negative reception of the movement causing a limitation on changing legislation, the publicity ensured the movement was talked about therefore allowing many to speak out and enjoy the benefits of the positive change. The Suffragettes also significantly prompted positive change by using violence. Events such as Black Friday show the ways government were forced to instruct the police to respond to the Suffragettes due to the extremity of the violence. Black Friday was a vicious affair resulting in six hours of violent police attack followed by the Suffragettes smashing windows in protest. This would have created both sympathy and anger; either way raising awareness of the cause. This indicates that the violence of the Suffragettes was too extreme for the police to control; Black Friday resulted in at least two deaths. Pugh backs the extremity of the violence when he wrote ‘Militancy led the campaign to evolve into something very like guerrilla war’. This corroborates that the government were forced into dealing with the movement verifying that the Suffragettes had a significant impact on the government and therefore prompted positive change due to the high level of awareness and controversy of the cause. Another argument for the effectiveness of the Suffragettes’ militancy in changing prompting positive change is the effect of the extremity of the Suffragettes’ violence evident in events such as Emily Davison throwing herself in front of the King’s Horse at the 1913 Derby causing her to become a martyr. This shows that the Suffragettes were hugely effective in using violence to force the government to debate their cause. However, despite the fact that violence was effective at promoting the cause, the Suffragettes were greeted with a negative response. The police can be seen as oppressive in their response shown by events such as Black Friday displaying a limitation on the Suffragettes creating positive change as a lack of support from government would prevent any legislation being passed. There was also a detrimental effect on change due to the extremity of the violence which resulted in anti-Suffrage movements forming and thriving in response such as the Women’s National Anti-Suffrage league, launched in 1908, establishing over 100 branches in 10 years. However, overall, Suffragettes were significantly effective in promoting positive change through their use of violence due to the controversy leading to a mixture of anger and empathy from the public raising awareness. It also led to the issue being discussed in Parliament which with peaceful methods it is probable that the cause would not have got there. Despite the loss of respect from fellow Suffrage protesters and the likely loss of respect from the public, the awareness that the violence created outweighed the detrimental effects of the violence. This shows that violence had a limited effect on changing legislation but a significant effect on awareness and influencing Parliamentary debate. Therefore, overall the Suffragettes played a significant role in prompting a positive societal change but a limited role in any change in legislation.