Feminism and Democracy

Previous studies of the women’s suffrage movement in Britain have focused their attention primarily on the activities of the well-known Women’s Social and Political Union, and its famous leading figures, Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst. This book offers a reinterpretation of the movement, looking instead at the lesser-known provincial suffragists, especially that group, identified by Sandra Holton as the ‘democratic suffragists’, who guided the campaigns of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. These women directed their efforts towards integrating the demand for the vote with other calls for a more democratic society, and, Dr Holton argues, it was their successful attempt to bring about an alliance between the suffrage movement and the labour movement that ensured the ventual winning of the vote for women.