I first heard of the suffragettes when I was very little, from the movie Mary Poppins. At the time, I had no idea how violent the protest actually was, but I remember the imagery of a woman being carried of to prison striking me as an odd thing for Mrs. Banks to seem so happy about.
As we saw in the documentary, the Suffragettes were originally peaceful, but resorted to more violent means when ignored, such as breaking windows, and, more drastically, arson and bombing buildings of politicians.
As we saw in the video, imprisoned women on hunger strikes were force-fed, so as not to help their cause by creating pity when they died. However, we did not see the solution to this problem, which, while slightly conniving, was a very effective strategy against the protesters.
When the imprisoned Suffragettes went on hunger strike, the government did not attempt to feed them. Instead, they held them until they were very weak, when they would release them. If the women died after being released, it wasn't at the hands of the government, and if they survived, they were very weakened and unable to put up a large protest for a while. when they fully recovered and protested again, they would be returned to jail, and be weakened once more. While a little brutal, this method was very effective.
When the Great War started, the leaders of the Suffragettes asked the women to turn their attention to war efforts, because their country needed them. After the war, women were rewarded with some voting rights, because their leaders knew that all the women made obsolete byt he end of the war and thus their work would be more likely to join the Suffragettes, and the problem would spiral out of control. So, voting rights were given to women over thirty, with numerous other constrictions, to pacify the feminists. While it took a very long time, eventually the Suffragettes got what they asked for.
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That is interesting (about how the government responded to hunger strikes). It must have been hard in an almost hopeless fight against the government. You'd think that after a while they would catch on and go for less public means of fighting for suffrage. Make it an underground movement perhaps. Then they'd have been really ninja. It makes a lot of sense though that the government would give in after the war. Thanks for talking about this - in the documentary I had been wondering how this subject connected as anything other than a description of the times.
ReplyDeleteHunger strikes are a very intriguing way of trying to get your way. You can create pity and publicity for yourself, even though you end up dead by your own hand. It reminds me of martyrs that we learned about in world religions.
ReplyDeleteWhat I liked most about this post was that you were drawn to the topic from something you had seen a long time ago (Mary Poppins). It was also very interesting to hear a deeper explanation on the Suffragettes during and after the war.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emily's point of how hunger strikes are a way of getting your way and how they create pity and publicity. It is a way though for your association to gain attention from superiors and hopefully as you put it get your way .
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