First Wave Suffrage Strategies and Organization
The U.S. and U.K. Suffrage Movements were simultaneously occuring in the beginning of the 20th century. These suffrage movements are often contrasted in scholarly literature for several reasons. The U.K. movement is characterized as procuring suffrage for women through more militant action. Many events throughout the U.K. suffrage movement were centered in violence. While some parades and events in the U.S. suffrage movement did end in riots, the strategies of suffragists were more peaceful.
The U.S. and U.K. suffrage movements were also different in their organization tactics. The U.K. movement rallied around individuals, while the U.S. movement consisted of many different forms of suffrage organizations, some small and local, others large and national.
Regardless of the route utilized to gain suffrage, voting rights were secured in both locations within a year of each other. These movements solidified women's voice in the political sphere and created a foundation upon later movements have been built. Parades and organizations are still utilized by women's rights advocates in the modern era (see Modern Impact Page).
U.S. Suffrage Movement
The U.S. Women’s Suffrage movement can be characterized as widespread and regionalized, though not disorganized. The Austin Woman Suffrage Association Constitution (1908) is an example of the efforts of small offshoots and small organizations that were distributed throughout the U.S. Groups small and large alike were formed across the country in an attempt to increase awareness of the movement (seen left).
The Constitution of the Austin Woman Suffrage Association outlines the objectives for such a small group. Their goal was, as stated in the text, "to procure for women equal suffrage with men in Texas". This group had monthly meetings, annual officer elections, and membership stipulations.
This group of Austin suffragists were actually connected to larger national and state suffrage organizations: The National American Woman Suffrage Association and the Texas Woman Suffrage Association. While many efforts by American suffragists were localized, this doesn't appear to be the case for this specific group. Often, when compared to other suffrage movements, namely in the U.K., the U.S. suffrage movement is often thought of as not having a central guiding group or figure. However, organization, as seen in this group's constitution, was still readily seen on the national and state level.
Strategies in the U.S.
From a chronological viewpoint, differences in overt tactics used by U.S. suffragists slowly shifted in the early 20th century. Common tactics employed prior to this shift included lecturing. A detailed report of a lecture that occurred in Austin, TX in 1912 is described in the Austin American Statesman, which is local newspaper (seen left). This report was discovered along with the Austin Woman Suffrage Association Constitution. Associated commentary exists above the article. While lecturing was common in the initial efforts of suffragists, a new tactic was employed later: parades. The use of the public parade did more than just bring awareness and notoriety to the movement, but it also was likely more successful in fostering support. Parades were often more successful at forging press articles and gathering larger audiences.
The success of different strategies was often dependent on the environment in which such strategies were enacted. For instance, Wyoming women gained suffrage before any other U.S. women in 1869. It is proposed by scholars that such suffrage was granted because Wyoming was a new frontier state that desired a higher proportion of citizens that were women. As such, suffrage was granted to entice women to move to Wyoming. Suffrage efforts were successful in this instance because the environment catalyzed such success.
The British Suffragette Movement
The British Suffragette Movement centers around the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), and exisited as a largely centralized and tightly controled movement, under the authority of Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel Pankhurst and Sylvia Pankhurst.
The WSPU progressed through three phases of strategies, overtime.
After its formation in 1903, the WSPU persued persausive strategies. The leaders of the movement gathered in key locations to give talks on the importance of women's suffrage. Additionally, prosessions were organized to demonstrate the ideals of these suffragettes to the public. During the persuasive phase, the suffragettes tried to advocate to British Parliment on behalf of women's voting rights. Leadership in the organization provided arguements for the passage of women's legislation, such as Christabell Pankhurst did on the Women's Franchise Bill on Feburary 28th, 1908. Yet, during the organization's early stages, advocacy failed. These photographs, from the Christina Livingston Broom collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, show suffragette tactics during the movement's early stages, as the movement used persuasive stratgies in an effort to gain attention, garner support, and raise conciousness for the cause of suffrage. The first photograph shows Christabel Pankhurst, one of the leaders of the WSPU, delivering a speech in Hyde Park, a common occurance during the early stages of the organization. The second photograph shows an organized procession of women through London, showing support for the Women's Exhibition and Sale of Works in the Colours.
In response to the government ignoring them, such as the defeat of the Third Concilition Bill in 1912, the WSPU entered a phase of praticing civil disobidence and more miliant strategies. Instead of pursuing persausive tactics, such as marches and demonstrations, the WSPU engaged in violent activities. By 1912, the organization partook in committing arson against stately homes and churches, including Westminster Abbey, rushing the House of Commons, cutting telephone lines, spitting at police and politcians, burning slogans into the ground, sending letter bombs, and chaining themselves to railings. Militant strategies also crossed into other British Suffrage organizations, such as the Women's Freedom League (WFL). Unlike the American movement, the autocratic structure of the British movement, along with the influence of Chartism, labor party politics, and the strictness of the Victorian era, produced a political climate of miliancy. Many question the impact of these strategies on gaining suffrage rights for women in Britain. Yet, some contest that combined with later wartime strategies, both strategies of miliancy and wartime activity contributed to the eventual success of the movement.
At the beginning of World War One, the WSPU deliberately changed its strategy to bargaining. They essentially exchanged their services for the hope of post-war suffrage. By contributing to the war effort at home, suffragettes channeled their seriousness into a comparitively respectible strategy of aiding their country through wartime. With the newfound respect towards the WSPU and Suffragette movement, the British Parliament felt greater pressure to pass pro-suffrage legislation. Towards the end of the war in 1917, the WSPU dissolved, and its founders created the Women's Party, which equated women's suffrage with the end of World War One. The third picture shows the change in tactics, as World War One began. Instead of depicting women in their fight for suffrage, this photograph, from the same collection by Christina Livingston Broom at the Harry Ransom Center, shows women with departing soldiers. The photograph emphasizes women's role of support during the war, which served as their final strategy towards gaining suffrage.