page_title: Gude Cause 1909 and 2009
section_title: Origins and aims
hierarchical_section_title: Gude Cause 1909 and 2009 / Origins and aims
caption_attribution_description: English: The participants carrying banners and placards on the Gude Cause Procession, Edinburgh 2009
context_page_description: Gude Cause was the name of a feminist project, based at the Peace and Justice Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland, which inspired over 60 events and projects throughout Scotland between 2007 and 2009.
  Gude Cause aimed to commemorate the work of Scotswomen involved in the suffrage movement, to celebrate women's achievements in the 100 years since the Women's Suffrage Procession which had taken place in Edinburgh in 1909, and to re-energise women's commitment to political representation and action in Scotland.
  The work culminated in the re-enactment on 10 October 2009 of the 1909 Edinburgh procession, and was organised by volunteers, women's historians and community workers, in association with The Edinburgh Peace and Justice Resource Centre, achieving the main goal of recreating the original procession in all its glory, while drawing attention to the problems that still need to be faced up to around the world, such as tackling domestic violence, forced marriage, sex trafficking and equal pay.
context_section_description: In the weeks before the 2007 Scottish Parliamentary election, statistics indicated that a large percentage of women intended to abstain from using the vote that women a century ago had fought so hard to secure. Women – especially young women – appeared to be disillusioned and increasingly apathetic about party politics and representative democracy. However, the same study showed they did still care about the issues and political decisions that affect people's lives in Scotland and around the world.
  The research also showed that, when looked at as a group, women often had differing views to men on a wide range subjects, including issues such as the war in Iraq or the replacement of the Trident nuclear missile system. It followed, therefore, that the under representation of women and their views in the political process was not just an academic problem, but that this was likely to result in real deficiencies in government policy and decision-making in not taking into account of the needs of this group of the population.
  In April 2007, the Edinburgh Peace & Justice Centre organised a procession along Princes Street in Edinburgh, to raise the profile of women's concerns, to encourage women to re-engage with the political process, and at the most basic level, to make women think about using their vote.
  Despite the short notice, several hundred women turned up, walking along Princes Street and climbing Calton Hill to sing "Bread and Roses" and other feminist songs. Participants agreed that this spirit of feminist co-operation could inspire the planning of a more substantial and high-profile public campaign.
  The plan was to recall and celebrate the courage, passion and persistence of the women's suffrage activists who, for around sixty years from 1867 until 1928, had campaigned for the vote. A key event for the movement in Scotland was the great suffrage procession through the streets of Edinburgh on 9 October 1909. It was decided it would be good to re-enact that event one hundred years on, in 2009.
  Among the many of banners seen at the 1909 procession was one which read "A Gude Cause Maks a Strong Arm"; a rallying call the organisers felt was as true in 2009 as it was in 1909. And so "Gude Cause" was adopted as the name for the organisation.
  The organisation's aims were to commemorate the 1909 Suffrage Parade in Edinburgh, and the importance of Scotswomen in the suffrage movement; to encourage Scotswomen to re-connect with political processes at a local, regional and national level; to celebrate all the achievements and progress made by Scotswomen during the last hundred years; and to highlight the violence, lower pay, discrimination and other inequalities which the Scottish Government's own Gender Audit of 2007 revealed still blight many women's lives in the 21st century.
  The project was launched in October 2008 at the Scottish Parliament.
caption: Participants in the Gude Cause Procession, Edinburgh 2009
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