Suffragettes Speech Essay

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Source 1- Speech at the trial of the Suffragette leaders In 1906 the term suffragette was a derogatory title made popular by the daily mail that was later reborn and used to denote the more militant suffrage activists. The British suffragette movement had begun with peaceful protest and the production of petitions in an attempt to get political pull for women. But this had to evolve as the effect it had at the time was minimal. From small acts of a criminal nature such as putting jam in post boxes to what was known as “The argument of the broken pane” which was the women involved carrying bricks under their skirts that were thrown through the windows of the prestigious oxford street shops. Many of the women involved in these act would be sentenced to prison time where they would starve themselves in protest which led to force-feeding which caused infection and illness. Emmeline Pankhurst played a major role in the movement alongside her daughters Christabel, Sylvia and Adela. She herself founded the Women's Social and Political Union and campaigned for equal voting rights for women. Her beliefs were reinforced by the fact that she was a Poor Law guardian from 1895 and in the process saw the misery and suffering of women in the workhouses and she was shocked by the treatment of women. Pankhurst gave a speech in October 1908 at a trial where she was defending herself against a charge of ‘conduct likely to provoke a breach of the peace’. The extract from the speech that is to be analysed is a firsthand account of the event in question. Primarily it must be noted that the speech was aimed at the individuals in court on the day of her trial, however not so much as to defend herself but to get her voice out in the public realm. Another thing to note at this point is that due to the political temperature at the time the speech would have appeared in newspapers

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