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Sebastian Suherman
Ms. Hannah Meeuwse
Individuals and Societies 9
29/09/2015
Behind The Suffragette Movement
Womens rights have become better over the years, but it was the original Suffragettes
which fought for gender equality during the early 1900s. The industrial revolution ushers in a
new era for gender equality thanks to them. Without them, there is a likely possibility that
gender equality isnt as evolved as it is right now. Suffragettes consist of women who wanted
to gain rights for all women, so that they would be treated equally. During the industrial
revolution, these women had generally a harder life than men. They had to work in factories
as well to be able to support their families, and the wages for workers are quite low. Women
are generally treated worse than men as they had to work harder in much more dangerous
conditions, while receiving wages that are quite low. They didnt have the privileges of men
either. In fact, one of the main goal for the movement is to be able to participate in elections.
The suffragette movement was caused because women was able to get an increase awareness
for politics, because they had bad wages even though they worked hard, and because women
wasnt allowed to participate in politics.
The suffragette movement is actually a more violent movement, unlike the suffragists
movement, which was more peaceful and conservative. The suffragist movement was created
by Millicent Fawcett. They were originally called the National Union of Womens Suffrage
Societies. Unlike the Suffragette movement, the suffragists believes that by showing women
that are intelligent, they would be able to persuade people that women are as intelligent as
men. Even though they were both created during the industrial revolution, the suffragette

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movement was actually started in the early twentieth century, while the suffragists movement
was started in the mid nineteenth century. The suffragette movement was created by
Emmeline Pankhurst, who used to be part of the suffragist movement. She grew impatient
with the more peaceful and conservative techniques that the suffragists use, and she wanted a
more direct approach. In essence, these two movements have the same goals. The only
difference is the techniques they used to gain the goals. The suffragettes was originally
known as the Womens Social and Political Union, but adopted the term Suffragette which
was first used by The Daily Mail.
Women in the industrial revolution era werent allowed to participate in politics. This
meant that women werent allowed to vote in many elections. In fact, women werent usually
allowed to participate in many political events, as they were usually underestimated by men.
Most men thought that women was less smarter than most men. This means that women
cannot have the freedom to choose for a leader. Women in that era was soon to realise that
they are being oppressed and that being banned from voting meant that they have less
freedom as they were essentially unable to choose for someone that will lead their country,
which also means that they cannot choose their own leader. The fact that they werent allowed
to participate in politics was one of the most important factors which attributed to the forming
of the movement. However, it took them some time to actually realise this problem.
During the industrial revolution, women was finally able to talk about their conditions
in life. This could be attributed to the fact that the industrial revolution urges people from the
countryside into the cities to be able to work in the brand new factories. In fact, many
families from the countryside moved into cities in hopes of getting better work and to be able
to support their family better. This made it easier for people to communicate with each other.
Before the industrial revolution, each family would live in villages. They were usually a lot

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more further away from each other. The cities are far more crowded than the countryside.
Women would usually talk with each other and discuss about issues and things about their
life. After a while, these women realised that they were treated unfairly. They realised that
women were being oppressed, and this resulted in them wanting to get justice. Since families
lived closer together, it makes it easier to communicate with each other, which meant that
more ideas could be passed along different people.
There are a lot of women from the working class during the industrial revolution.
These women also usually had to work in factories because the wages for men were usually
low. The women usually had to do more dangerous work than men. In fact, the women are
usually expected to do tasks that are considered hazardous. Therefore, women usually had to
work harder than men. However, instead of getting better wages, women received less wages
than men did even though they worked harder. This made a lot of women upset because they
thought that they should have gotten better wages, and this made them realise that they
werent treated fairly by the leaders of the factories.
The suffrage movement laid the basis for which gender equality was formed on.
Gender equality plays a huge role in humanity. Before gender equality, things were much
more difficult for women in the society, as they were more oppressed. One of the most
noticeable effects is that women were allowed to participate in politics, and even able to run
for presidency. Another noticeable effect is that women are now allowed to get higher
education levels. Even though at first it was quite hard to get education for women, soon
many were able to enrol and receive better and higher education. This means that women
these days can become more successful as they get better education. Without education, many
influential women in history wouldnt be able to help humanity, thus making everybodys life
harder. It lays out the foundations for equality in general, not only for women but it also is the

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beginning to the end of racial discrimination. Even though gender equality is far from perfect,
it made the lives of many people much more easier.
The suffragette movement began as women was able to get an increase awareness for
politics, since they had bad income even though they worked hard, and since women were
denied participation in politics. The suffragette movement started out because women wanted
the freedom that every other men had. Women werent treated fairly by the community as
their roles were only expected to help their husbands and to take care of their family. Women
wanted more than to do what they were expected to do. They wanted more freedom and they
wanted to be treated as equals by men, to be respected, and to be acknowledged as a part of
the population. Gender equality played a big role in human history as gender equality brought
out change for the whole human population.

Works Cited

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Dublin, Thomas. "Women and the Early Industrial Revolution in the United States." The
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
House, Dan M. "Working Conditions in the Industrial Revolution." Schools History. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
Galvankova, Barbora. "Gender Inequality: How Much Does It Affect Development in Europe
and Central Asia?" Voices from Eurasia. 1 July 2013. Web. 29 Sept. 2015.
"Women in the Progressive Era." Women in the Progressive Era. 2007. Web. 29 Sept. 2015.
"Women's Suffrage Movement." BBC News. BBC. Web. 29 Sept. 2015.