THE BRITISH SUFFRAGETTE MOVEMENT.

White Ribbon, Volume 20, Issue 235, 18 January 1915, Page 1

THE BRITISH SUFFRAGETTE MOVEMENT.

(By Win. Knsom.) Ihe visitor to Kurland, wh.itcver liis or her opinion may be on the question of votes for women, cannot but be deeply improved with 'he extent and enormous >ignituance of the woman’s suffrage movement. From the point of view of the ?>o<i«il reformer or the politician of any shade of colour, from Tor) to Sm the influence of ths new factor, which has t ome into our public life, and w hich is spreading so rapidly, i-> of the greatest importance. Various causes have operated to obscure the question and its great significance from those outside its direct influences, and especially from those who are at a distance from the Umpire's centre. The Home Kule struggle and the conflict between the Government and the of Lords has bulked so largely as great and vital constitutional questions, th.it they have overshadowed this great British woman question, this matter of the rapid and startling change in the attitude women towards the social and political life and interests of the country.

To those who have not paid any special attention to the votes for women agitation, the significance of it would not be understood, and it is quite apparent that the great bulk of our fellow-citizens outside the British Isles have no conception of the extent and strength of the organisations, nor the business energy, enthusiasm, and splendid organising ability that have been enlisted in the suffrage crusade. Very generally a totally erroneous

opinion ha been and i- held as to the -.pint and aims ut the women, but this is passing away, and largely through ♦he ability, strength, and persistence ol the women themselves, the public general!) are getting to know and appreriatc th< veiy great significance ot the movement and the change that it is bound (o bring about in our national life It is not m> intention here to di>- < uss the question as to why the Bri tish Government refuse to give the vote, neither do I propose to give an opinion as to how long it will be before it is granted, or whether the present Government will give it, but I .mi quite convinced as are all whom 1 have met who have know ledge of the strength and extent of the women’s organisations that it must conic in the very near future. By their very effic lent organising and propaganda in the constituencies, a pressure is being brought to bear on members of Parliament such that, wlnte’er partv is in otln e, it cannot possibly long resist the demand. There is much discussion in all quarters as to the extreme methods of the militant section. It is of course being widely condemned, many holding that the lawless tactics are injuring the cau>e; on the other hand, many whose opinions are valuable consider that without the publicity these methods give the cause would be ignored by the public and Parliament, and that it is only since they have been practiced that the movement has made any real progress. One very important matter which is not generally understood is that the militant group is only a comparatively sm ill section of the movement.

There are three outstanding points with reference to the work and methods of the suffragette societies generally : First, the great extent and efficiency ot the organisation. Second, its democratic i haracter and the great enthusiasm of its munbe*.*. Third, the wide social and political outlook and the burning interest of its members in social and political questions. As to the first, the number of different societies, is to the visitor very surprising. The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies is per haps the largest; its methods are constitutional. Mrs Henry Fawcett. LCD., is President, and the committee and vice-presidents include many of those foremost in social work in Britain : Councillor Margaret Ashton, M.A., B.Sc., the Countess of Aber deen, Mrs Garrett Anderson, M.D., the Countess Brassey, Mrs George. Cadbury, Lord Courtney, Sir Francis Darwin, the Bishops of Hull, Lincoln, and Chichester, Lady Henn Somerset, Lady Maud Parry, Mrs Forbes l£obertson, Lady Stratchley, ate amongst them. The number of branches affiliated throughout Kngland and Siotland is some four hundred and eighty.

There are ninety organisers employed by the Head Kxecutive, besides local organisers. The increase in membership is about one thousand a month, and the income of the central office for the year 1913 was between ten and eleven thousand pounds. The Church of England League for Women’s Suffrage has several bishops on the Board of Management, and reported a membership of 3600 at the end of 1912, with sixty-five branches.

By the end of iyij there were soiiu members and one hundred and three branches, 4-5 of the members being clergv. * Then there is the Women’s Freedom League, with a large t membership and income,’and branches throughout the United Kingdom; and th**ro arc besides some twenty other distinct societies in England: 1 he Conservative and Unionist Franchise Association, the Catholic Women’s Suffrage Society, the Conservative Irish Women’s Franchise Associution, six other Irish societies, and two Scottish societies, the Women Writers’ Association, the Women Teachers’ Association, and the Actresses’ Association. So far .is 1 have had an opportunity of judging by a visit to the headquarters of these societies, they are doing quite remarkable work. The larger ones have extensive oftic »*s 111 the best part of London, all of them well equipped and capably staffed by women, in most cases giving their time to the work. These larger offices also have separate departments for correspondence, finance, statistics, political work, and literature. They have a special book shop just off the Strand, and are printing and issuing great quantities of books and leaflets. There are five weekly newspapers and one monthly, all < apably conducted and widely circulated. The amount of money subscribed to the fund- is one of not the least remarkable f • at - ures of the movement. The second very striking character istic of the movement i> its democracy and the very live zeal of its leaders. Women of all classes and all creeds work side by side; women in society, in the professions, and working women associate freely, their devotion to their cause being their common bond. That refined and well-bred women will either mount the chair or waggon in the park or at the street corner, or will sell newspapers in the streets, is a very practicaly illustration of their genuineness and strength of conviction. The third and last point or feature* of this new crusade appeals to me as the most important, and appears to give to it a value and significance that is most vital and of the greatest consequence to us as a people nationally, and as it naturally follows, Imperially also. It is a quality of the movement that seems to have been obscured or overlooked by the public generally, and more especially so by our own

people outside the Mother Land. 1 refer to the fact that the interest the women are taking in the franchise extension to themselves has brought them into direct vital contact with all the great social and political problems of our time. They are being lifted entirely out of the rut of the* ordinary round of women’s interests, have come, as it were, into a new world of ideas and interests. Ihe Society woman, with he*r gay and but narrow round, the middle class and professional woman, also circumscribed in outlook, as well as the working woman, have all been compelled to take a wider view. On the platform, in their journals and books, and at all times and seasons, they are discussing the causes and results of poverty, crime, bad laws, overcrowding, ignorance, and lowwages, and indeed the whole gamut of social and political vexed questions th.it are waiting for solution. In spite of some small improvement in the general condition of the mass of the workers in England, there is an enormous amount of suffering and degradation caused through low wages and sweating. W ages in many districts are as low as ids per week for men, and rent consumes one-third of that amount at least. Women in many of the sweated industries earn 2s only for a clay’s work of twelve hours. In the past one of the obstacles that lay in the way of a remedy for this has been that the wealthy classes were ignorant of or ignored these condition 3. Through the organisation of the Franchise Movement, the barrier is breaking down. The educated woman and the woman in society is being brought in contact on equal terms, through a common cause, with the labourer’s wife and the factory worker, and is compelled to realise and understand the suffering and injustice that is being inflicted on her helpless sister. The working woman on her part has come to see that the road to economic justice is by way of the vote, so that the suffrage struggle has become a means of enormous benefit as an educational force. Altogether apart from the question of the vote, this is now, and will be, a factor of the greatest value in the struggle that is going on for better social conditions for the worker, as well as for a change in women’s social and economic conditions generally.