Emmeline Pankhurst
by Radiyah Shakur
Emmeline (Emily) Pankhurst’s name is practically
synonymous with the women’s suffragist movement.
She dedicated her life to women’s struggle, and
was not afraid of vocalizing opinions and using bold
methods to achieve her goal.
 Emily’s father was a successful businessman,
who took part in campaigns against slavery and Corn
Laws, while her mother Sophia Crane was a passionate
feminist who started taking Emily to women’s
suffrage meetings in the 1870s.
Emily’s own husband Richard Pankhurst, a successful
lawyer who was twenty years her senior, was very supportive
of women’s rights. He was the author of the first
women's suffrage bill in Britain, as well as the Married
Women's Property Acts of 1870 and 1882, which allowed
women to keep earnings or property acquired before
and after marriage.
Both she and her husband Richard were active members
of the Independent Labour Party. Additionally, both
founded the Women’s Franchise League that fought
to allow married women the right to vote in local elections.
When her husband died in 1898, Emily was joined by
her daughters to continue the struggle.
Disappointed by the major political parties’ disinterest
in women’s suffrage, the militant Women’s
Social and Political Union (WSPU) was formed in 1903.
Emily was known as a natural speaker, possessing a
melodious voice that drew to it many followers. Daughter
supporters Christabel became the strategist and activist,
while Sylvia, who was a talented artist, created the
logo for the organization.
Pankhurst was arrested on numerous occasions for her
lead role and radical tactics. She also participated
in hunger strikes. At the onset of World War I, Emily
was able to negotiate her full release and the release
of fellow suffragettes. Stepping back from leadership
with WSPU, she encouraged women to do all they could
for the war effort. Her pro-war stance and her controversial
effort to encourage women to take the traditional jobs
of men, and allow the government to draft all able-bodied
men, caused her to lose some of her followers.
She tried to resurrect the militancy of the suffrage
movement in her war effort, which was demonstrated
in hard-line articles Pankhurst wrote in the WSPU’s
newspaper the Britannia (formerly The Suffragette),
and in the renaming of the Union in 1917 to the Women’s
Party. In addition to supporting war efforts, the Women’s
Party supported equality of pay, rights, work, divorce
and marriage laws; and a system of maternity benefits.
In March 1918, Pankhurst saw the first victory in
women’s enfranchisement, which was the Representation
of the People Act- giving voting rights to women
over 30 and men over 21. In November 1918, women
over the age of 21 were granted the right to become
Members of Parliament. One year later, Emily emigrated
to Canada, and left the Independent Labour Party.
In 1926 she returned to England and was chosen as
the Conservative Candidate for a seat in East London
but her bad health hindered her from entering elections.
Emmeline Pankhurst died in 1928, a few weeks before
women finally achieved equal voting rights to men in
the UK.
Her autobiography, My Own Story, was published in 1914
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