Suffragette vs. Suffragist
Last night, I couldn’t sleep because a horrible headache was gnawing away at my brain cells.
A thought occurred to me in the middle of the night…what’s the difference between a suffragist and a suffragette? I decided to take a look on the good old internets.
- About.com describes a suffragette as “Definition: Suffragette is a term sometimes used for women active in the woman suffrage movement.”
- About.com and Wikipedia are on the same page with their assertion that “suffragette” was first used in the UK.
- MOST INTRIGUING!: from Wikipedia: ” Suffragist is a more general term for members of the movement, whether radical or conservative, male or female. American women preferred this more inclusive title, but people in the United States who were hostile to suffrage for the American woman used the UK word - pejoratively so, since the feminine-sounding version could be dismissed more easily.”
I never knew that each word had such historically significant meanings. I better go back and review my women’s suffrage books.
(Don’t worry I’m not falling back on not trusting Wikipedia as a definitive source BUT it so much fun to say and I’m lazy and sleep deprived.)
Wikipedia is essentially correct on the difference between suffragist and suffragette. The term suffragist, was used since the mid 19th century to describe supporters of woman suffrage. The suffragette label was first given — in mockery — in the early years of the 20th century to Emmeline Pankhurst and her colleagues in Britain, then to Alice Paul and other members of the Congressional Union (later National Woman’s Party) who followed a similar strategy of holding the party in power responsible for unequal suffrage. In the US, this put them in the position of campaigning against Representatives and Senators who were personally in favor of equal suffrage and who had actually voted for it in Congress. The tactics of the suffragettes were more militant than the suffragists, although under Carrie Chapman Catt, some of the tactics of mass meetings, parades, and what we would call “PR” were adapted by the NAWSA. Suffragists generally avoided being arrested. The suffragettes made headlines with chaining themselves to the White House gates and hunger strikes while in prison for doing so. As a result, their nickname has persisted (not unlike the “bra burning” feminists that never were) in the media.
Comment by Linda — November 16, 2007 @ 3:49 pm
The Suffragists were first formed in 1897 as the NUWSS under Millicent Fawcett. They were trying to attain female emancipation by legal means such as peaceful protests and campaigns.
The Suffragettes were formed as a cut off from the NUWSS as he WSPU and they wanted to use more aggressive methods of gaining the vote.
^^ GCSE history..
Comment by Hugh — March 8, 2009 @ 9:57 am