# The leaders

Although we know that History cannot be only explained by the impact of great men or great women, but also by ordinary human behaviour, we are going to learn more about the leaders of suffrage movement.

Millicent Fawcett (1847-1929) was a noted leading Suffragits and president of the National Union of Women´s Suffrage Societies ( NUWSS ).

Impatient with the peaceful tactics of the NUWSS, in 1903 a group of women headed by Emmeline Pankhurst (1858 - 1828) decided to break with this organisation and set up a separate society: the Women´s Social and Political Union (WSPU). They were called Suffragettes.

Millicent Fawcett |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | Emmeline Pankhurst

# Activity

- Find out about their lives and works, and then make a presentation.
- Your presentation could be assessed on the following rubric:

Element | Excellent | Accomplished | Satisfactory | Unsatisfactory
Information | very relevant information | relevant information | some relevant information | not relevant information
Organisation | very clear and well organised | adecuate connection among ideas | weakly organised | unorganised and confusing
Format | varied grammatical structure without errors | quite varied grammatical structure few errors | repetitive structures several errors | difficult to understand numerous errors

# Image gallery

- WSPU leaders Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst
- A suffragette meeting in Manchester, England, circa 1908, with Emmeline Pankhurst stand in the center of the platform and the suffragette´s moto “ Deeds, not words”
- In order to avoid women on hunger strike becoming martyrs, government introduce the Prisoner’s Temporary Discharge of Ill Health Act, nicknamed “The Cat and Mouse Act” because of a cat´s habit to play with a mouse before finishing it.
- One of the Emmeline Pankhurst’s most famous speeches , “Freedom or death”, in Connecticut, 1913.
- Poster showing a suffragette prisioner being force-fed, 1910

# Try to answer the next questions

# Question

Which drastic step did imprisioned suffragettes take in 1909?

# Answers

Option 1

arson

Option 2

hunger strike

# Feedback

# Solution

1. Incorrect
2. Correct

# Question

What did they want to achieve with this action?

# Answers

Option 1

to be recognised as political prisioners instead of criminals

Option 2

to be released in a shorter period of time

# Feedback

# Solution

1. Correct
2. Incorrect

# Question

Which was the answer of the government?

# Answers

Option 1

to force feed the suffragettes

Option 2

to release them

# Feedback

# Solution

1. Correct
2. Incorrect

# Question

How was this measure conidered by suffragettes like Emmeline Pankhurst?

# Answers

Option 1

a form of torture

Option 2

an exaggerated answer

# Feedback

# Solution

1. Correct
2. Incorrect

# Question

Did the bill of a Committee of the Parliament to give the vote to some women succeed in 1910?

# Answers

Option 1

yes

Option 2

no

# Feedback

# Solution

1. Incorrect
2. Incorrect

# Question

Which form of attacking private property did they adopt?

# Answers

Option 1

smashing windows

Option 2

to destroy gardens

# Feedback

# Solution

1. Correct
2. Incorrect

# Question

What was the "Cat and Mouse" Law?

# Answers

Option 1

a law to increase hunger strikers´ prision sentences

Option 2

a law to release hunger strikers when they became ill and rearrested when they became better

# Feedback

# Solution

1. Incorrect
2. Correct

# Question

What happened when First World War broke out in 1914?

# Answers

Option 1

All suffragettes were released and they increased their campaigns for female vote

Option 2

All suffragettes were released and they foccused their attention on the war

# Feedback

# Solution

1. Incorrect
2. Correct

# Question

Which women were allowed to vote in 1918?

# Answers

Option 1

women over 21

Option 2

women over 30

# Feedback

# Solution

1. Incorrect
2. Correct

# Question

What happened in 1928, the year of E. Pankhurst´s death?

# Answers

Option 1

Men were allowed to grant suffrage to their wives with some conditions

Option 2

Men and women were allowed to vote on the same conditions

# Feedback

# Solution

1. Incorrect
2. Correct

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