blog




  • Essay / Analysis of Emmeline Pankhurst's speech "Why we are activists"

    Emeline Pankhurst was born in 1858 in England. She grew up with an interest in politics and women's suffrage. She was heavily involved in strikes for women's workers' rights, such as the London Matchgirls' strike of 1888. She launched a political organization, the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903, which called for limited suffrage for women (upper and middle classes). women). Beginning in 1905, in an attempt to gain attention and publicity, women resorted to violence, disrupting political meetings and organizing rallies. When suffragettes went on hunger strikes for attention, many were force-fed.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay During protests, they were beaten and sexually assaulted. Eventually, with dwindling support, the WSPU resorted to arson, and in 1913 a suffragette named Emily Davison rushed the track in the Derby, a race attended by the most senior members of society. She tried to catch King George's horse and was killed. All of these methods have received mixed reactions. Although they attracted public and government attention, this attention was generally negative and used against women and their arguments for the right to vote. It was public reactions to the suffragettes that Emmeline Pankhurst responded to when she began speaking out across the country and in the United States, in an attempt to gain more support.ContentThis is a speech in which Pankhurst explains the hypocrisy of men refusing to allow women to vote, while trying to explain why women want to vote. Audience In this speech, Pankhurst addresses a primarily American audience. This audience is important because of the slight cultural differences between the English and Americans which will change their perception of women's right to vote. Furthermore, the public will not have first-hand observations of the suffragettes' actions and opinions, but only from biased sources of information. She tries to give them an additional perspective on the struggle that women experience. Pankhurst gives these people insight into how the men in his story went about gaining their rights, through riots and violence. Furthermore, the fact that she addresses a partially male audience, whom she describes as "gentlemen", shapes the analogies she gives to try to explain her behavior. She compares her struggle with that of men in other countries who also fight against oppressors, whom they support, and wonders why she does not receive the same sympathy and support. Background America had a similar experience as men when it came to women's right to vote. In the United States, women were considered citizens, but the right to vote was not an element of citizenship. However, working-class women participating in the suffrage movement built relationships with unions and labor parties, and by 1911 they achieved partial suffrage in 29 states. However, American suffragettes did not resort to the same level of violence as British suffragettes. This would have made the actions of British suffragists more difficult for American men to understand, as they saw American women working to gain votes without resorting to these violent means. 2Importance This text shows us the reasons why the suffragettes resorted to..