TUESDAY O4, 2017

Securing the vote for women

EXERCISE 1: LOOK at the pictures and discuss the ways in which women might have fought to achieve universal suffrage.

In the picture there are three women writing on a wall, probably in the middle of a city so it could be seen by as much people as possible, the words "votes for women". So it can be concluded that one of the approaches adopted by the Suffraggettes to get the right to vote, was the propaganda: spreading the message of equality in order to have people's support.

EXERCISE 2: ANSWER the questions.

1. When was women's suffrage granted?

   First, on 6^th February 1918, the coalition government granted the vote to women throught the Representation of the People Act with wich suffrage was granted only to over thirty years women who were property owners and graduated from British universities. And then, in 1928, the government extended the franchise to include all women over the age of twenty-one.

    

2. What focused attention on the fight for female suffrage?

   To support their cause and to make their voices heard, the Suffragettes caught the eye causing damage to public places and shouting "Votes for Women", reason why many of them were also sent to prison. Press reports of ladies attacking MPs, burning churches and being force-fed in prison cells focues attention on the fight for female suffrage as never before.

    

3. What was the NUWSS?

   The National Union of women's Suffrage were local “suffragist” groups which came together when late-Victorian femminists had campaigned for better rights from 1860s to 1897.

    

4. Who founded the WSPU? Where and when?

   In 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Women's Social and Political Union in Manchester with the motto “deeds not words” in order to change politica methods.

    

5. What finally led to the granting of the vote for women?

   When the First World War broke out, feminist movements like NUWSS and WSPU ceased their political activities and women were involved in the work in the fields and factories. Their vital contribution to the war caused the chose of the coalition government to granted the vote to women through the Representation of the People Act on 6^th February 1918.

World War I

EXERCISE 1: MATCH the words (1-6) with their meanings (A-F).

1. Allies → D: One in helpful association with another.

    

2. Warfare → F: Armed conflict.

    

3. Machine gun → E: A rapid-firing automatic gun.

    

4. Tank → B: An enclosed combat vehicle that is armed with a cannon and machine guns.

    

5. Shell → C: An artillery projectile containing an explosive charge.

    

6. Treaty → A: A formal agreement between two or more states.