‘Emmeline Pankhurst – Angel or Anarchist?’

Emmeline Pankhurst is one of the most influential and well-known British women to have ever lived. She fought tirelessly for women to have the vote. She was imprisoned several times, and went on hunger strike many times. Having failed to make any impression on parliamentarians for nearly thirty years, she became an advocate of Direct Action. The suffragettes threw stones at politicians, set fire to letter boxes, torched buildings and chained themselves to railings. Although the Suffragettes were eventually successful, many brave women suffered terribly during the fight. Emmeline was not universally popular. Many women believed that if the suffragettes had been less confrontational, the vote for women might have come much quicker.