Suffragette

Suffragette

Suffragettes were members of women's suffrage (right to vote) movements in the late 19th and early 20th century, particularly in the United Kingdom and United States. Suffragist is a more general term for members of suffrage movements, whether radical or conservative, male or female.

The term "Suffragette" is particularly associated with the actions of the women's suffrage movement in the UK in the early 20th century, which included chaining themselves to railings and setting fire to mailbox contents. One woman, Emily Davison, died whilst trying to throw a suffragette banner over the King's horse at the Epsom Derby on 5 June 1913. Many suffragettes were imprisoned in Holloway Prison in London, and were force-fed after going on hunger strike.

In the United States, women over 21 were first allowed to vote in Wyoming from 1869 and in Utah from 1870, and with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment the suffrage was extended to women across the United States in time for the 1920 presidential election. Women over 21 were allowed to vote in New Zealand from 1893, in Australia from 1894, and in Canada from 1919. Women in the UK were given the vote in 1918 if over 30 and meeting certain property qualifications, and in 1928 suffrage was extended to all women over the age of 21.