Emmeline Pankhurst

SLIDE 1 - Emmeline Pankhurst was a historical legacy known for her role as leader in the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) and the devotion she had for protesting female rights. Her and her Union fought to ensure all aspects of equality for all women, but they especially fought for women suffrage. Although their goals were successful and their Union is now regarded with utmost respect, in their time Emmeline Pankhurst and the WSPU were ridiculed and thought of as a joke. She often ran into trouble with the authorities and was arrested countless times – countless being a key word as she often wore disguises to avoid jail time. However, when she was in jail she tried to evade the law and still protest by refusing to eat. This sent waves of encouragement to other Suffragette members, who also went on hunger strikes while they were imprisoned. As a result all hunger strikers were force fed.
SLIDE 2 – These acts were so influential, the ‘Cat and Mouse’ act was put in place insisting the release of all hunger strikers who were way past malnourishment until they regained their health and would then be taken back to prison. In the first source we see a poster of the ‘Cat and Mouse’ act that was introduced by Henry Asquith and the Liberal Government. This act was the result of protests and petitions against force feeding the hunger strikers.
SLIDE 3 - The Women’s Social and Political Union was active from 1903 to 1914 when founding members Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia Pankhurst left their former women rights campaign, claiming they felt they needed to do more then what their other union would allow to ensure gender equality. They were first known as a militant group after Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney failed to address common protocol by trying to approach two liberal Politian’s, while they were giving speeches. The two suffragettes wanted to know where Churchill and Grey both stood with regards to women’s political rights....