The Suffagettes: The Story of Emmeline Pankhurst

The Suffragettes were the movement that helped women win the right to vote. Working-class women, who were the foot soldiers of feminism, initially attempted peaceful protests. After achieving nothing with peace as the path to change, they became radicalized and turn to violence instead – risking their jobs, homes, children and even their lives. Methods included changing oneself to a railing to provoke arrest, parades, public speaking, window-breaking of prestige buildings, vandalism, revolts, disruption of meetings, and nighttime arson of unoccupied buildings. In return for their militancy, an increasingly brutal State forced them underground.