Who were the suffragists?

Answer 1

The modern women's suffrage movement has a long, arduous and complicated history. It was always a struggle for equality.The movement is commonly thought to have originated with the publication of Mary Wollstonecraft's 'A Vindication of the Rights of Women' in 1792 in England. Over half a century later the philosopher John Stuart Mill presented a petition in Parliament calling for inclusion of women's suffrage in the Reform Act of 1867. In the same year Lydia Becker founded the first women's suffrage committee.

There were two wings of this movement. The suffragists were first and wanted the vote for middle class property owning women. They used peaceful tactics- demonstrations, petitions and lobbying of MPs. The suffragettes grew out of that group but they became impatient. Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Women's Social and Political Union in 1903. She believed more militant measures were needed and she included working class women. They heckled politicians, practiced civil disobedience and were frequently arrested for causing riots and property damage.

In America, the demand for voting rights of American women was first seriously formulated at the Seneca Falls Convention in New York State in 1848 convened by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. They were later joined by Susan B. Anthony. The right to vote was not attained during their life times.

There were many personalities and different philosophies involved throughout the women's suffrage movement and the effectiveness of the various people and ideas is debated. Important factors included the added difficulty of women's groups that fought against the movement but alternatively, extremely helpful were the many men who supported it.

In more modern usage the term suffragists is more commonly used to define the era since terms referring to women ending in ette are now recognized as an antiquated, trivializing manner of speech.

There are thousands of helpful websites where you can research the entire history. See related links.

Answer 2

Suffragists are people who fight for voting rights.