page_title: Historiography of the Suffragettes
section_title: Contemporary Feminist Schools
hierarchical_section_title: Historiography of the Suffragettes / Contemporary Feminist Schools
caption_attribution_description: English: Title: Group of suffragettes standing outside Parliament - London, ca. 1910 Abstract/medium: 1 photographic print.
context_page_description: The Historiography of the Suffragette Campaign deals with the various ways Suffragettes are depicted, analysed and debated within historical accounts of their role in the campaign for women's suffrage in early 20th century Britain.
  The term “Suffragette” refers specifically to British suffragists who campaigned for the rights of women to vote in public elections as part of militant organisations, such as the Women's Social and Political Union. These organisations were formed under the belief that existing legal and constitutional campaigning had achieved little towards the success of the women's suffrage campaign in Britain, and more drastic measures were needed. Suffragettes, under the motto of “Deeds, Not Words”, engaged in civil disobedience and disruption, smashing windows, exploding letterboxes, cutting telegraph wires and storming parliament in an attempt to oversee the success of their cause.
  Although female enfranchisement was granted with the Representation of the People Acts of 1918 and 1928, the militant campaigning methods of Suffragettes have become a source of contention amongst historical accounts.
context_section_description: Developing later in the 20th century were the new-feminist schools of suffrage history, influenced by the emergence of radical feminist historians, whose ideology encompassed  second-wave feminism and whose construction of history was focused on subverting the marginalisation of women in the historical record.
  Contemporary Feminist schools tend not to side with either the Militant, Constitutionalist or Masculinist Schools on the historical debate surrounding Suffragettes’ contributions to the enfranchisement movement, but rather focus on an evaluation of the position of each amongst a broader discussion of the historical and social implications of the Suffragette's actions. Some Contemporary Feminist Schools also focus on shifting Suffragette history away from the hindrance-or-help debate, and thus do not participate at all in the historical debate.
  The Radical feminist school does engage in this debate. Central to this analysis is the argument that women's liberation required a total restructuring of society, and militancy was and continues to be a means to achieve this. In terms of Suffragette history, this gave rise to the argument that militancy was necessary and effective not just as a political tactic, but as a significant symbol of wider female emancipation and societal change.
  June Purvis claimed that the widely held academic and historical focus on militancy shows little understanding of what the enfranchisement movement actually meant, due to its focus on the effects of militancy, rather than the causes. She claims the causes of militancy were born from “a sense of the burning injustice of the wrongs done to [females] in a male-dominated society”, and thus that militancy was an “unavoidable adaptation of the masculine justification of force”. She depicts militancy as justified within its context, as a tactic previously adopted by male suffragists, and analyses it as a mark of wider female emancipation, subverting traditional activities of women in the political sphere. From a radical feminist view, militancy was not simply a radical political tactic undertaken purely to win the vote, but ran much deeper as a “repudiation of submissiveness”, as women felt it necessary to subvert their traditional roles in society to not only win the vote but to achieve wider emancipation. The Radical feminist school therefore interprets militancy as much more than just the effective or ineffective political tactics examined in militant, constitutionalist and masculinist schools, and instead depicts Suffragettes as spurring a movement that inspired greater female emancipation and societal change on a much broader scale.
  In regards to the debate surrounding the efficacy, or lack thereof, of Suffragettes, consensus amongst Contemporary Feminist schools is that neither Suffragettes nor their constitutionalist counterparts can be credited with standalone success in the achievement of female enfranchisement. Rather, it is argued that constitutionalists gained political confidence from the radical actions of Suffragettes, and were able to exploit the public awareness militancy raised, positive or not, to further their cause. Contemporary Feminist Schools therefore posit that whether a hindrance or a help to broader Suffragist efforts, Suffragettes were a necessary part of the granting of female enfranchisement within Britain.
caption: A group of Suffragettes stand outside parliament in London, demonstrating what June Purvis describes as a subversion of activities of women in the public sphere[23]
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