Did the suffragettes help women's suffrage?

Historians disagree about whether or not the Suffragettes helped the cause of women's suffrage: Such violence led to a mixed reaction. Of course, it gained publicity. Newspapers were able to provide the public with long reports and some photographs. read more

Historians disagree about whether or not the Suffragettes helped the cause of women’s suffrage: Such violence led to a mixed reaction. Of course, it gained publicity. Newspapers were able to provide the public with long reports and some photographs. read more

Women had been campaigning for the vote from the mid-1800s or even earlier. By the 1890s there was an extensive network of local societies campaigning to get the vote for women. In 1897 these societies united under one banner, the National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). The NUWSS were often referred to as the Suffragists. read more

It was not the militant suffragettes that won women's suffrage. It was the political paradigm shift caused by the seismic shock of WW1. Given the role that women had had in war work whilst their men were busy being slaughtered in France and Belgium, it was not possible to deny them the vote anymore. The world had changed. read more