Women like Susan B. Anthony help revolution the theory of women being involved in the countless things women are allowed to participate in, in today’s time. The word suffragette comes from the word suffrage, which means the right to vote. Some women chained themselves to railings and would set fire to the contents of mailboxes. While others smashed windows and even sometimes set off bombs. A suffragette named Emily Davison died after she stepped out in front of the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby in 1913.
Some of those women who were friends and fellow suffragettes of Emily Davison were imprisoned after they went on hunger strikes. They were also restrained and forced fed. In 1912, they had reached the height of their campaign. Because of the many hunger strikes and imprisonments the Cat and Mouse Act was formed. This act was passed by the British government; it was an attempt to prevent suffragettes from obtaining public sympathy. This act provided the release of those who had gotten sick due to their hunger strikes. Then once they had recovered they were to be re-imprisoned.

Protests had continued though on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. During World War I, there was a shortage of men or what some would call “man power”. Therefore, women were required to take on many of the traditional male roles. Of course, this was a new way of seeing what a woman could do. Due to the war, there was a “ceasefire” in the women’s suffrage campaign. However, other suffrages continued their struggles.

In 1918, political movements were made toward the women’s suffragette. An act was passed in the United Kingdom, which was called the Representation of the People Act 1918. This granted the right for women to vote only if they were over the age of 30 and if they were householders, wives of householders or occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5. They also had to be graduate of British Universities. In 1920, women were finally able to vote in America. In the United Kingdom, women were able vote on the same terms as men in 1928.

Some famous American women suffragette’s were Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Burns, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage. Susan B. Anthony is perhaps one of the most famous of those listed because she appears on a coin. She was a civil rights leader who played one of the biggest roles of the 19th century’s women’s rights movement to secure the right for women to vote. She traveled through the US and through Europe giving 75 to 100 speeches each year. She was 86 years old when she passed away. Lucy Burns was a close friend of Alice Paul’s. Alice Paul and Lucy Burns both formed the National Women’s Party. This was an organization that was founded in 1913, which fought for women’s rights during the early 20th century in the United States. They voted though more for the right of women to vote on the same terms as men did. She was 87 when she died.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of leading figures in the early women’s rights movement. Her Declaration of Sentiments, which was presented in the first women’s rights convention in 1848. She was 86 when she died. Matilda Electra Joslyn Gage was a Native American activist, an abolitionist, a freethinker, and prolific author. She was born with a hatred of oppression, some say. Matilda faced many imprisonments when she fought under the Fugitive Slave Law on 1850. In 1852, she became involved with the women’s rights movement. She even served as president of the National Woman Suffrage Association from 1876 to 1876. Shed died in 1898 when she was 72. Women Suffragettes came along way back in the day and are still fighting for rights today. Though women are able to vote now, women are fighting against Domestic abuse more than ever.