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Rock the vote… and society! Emmeline Pankhurst’s campaigns helped get British women the vote.

1. She wasn’t afraid to rock the vote… or society

After the campaign for women’s right to vote had been (politely) running for decades Emmeline Pankhurst decided enough was enough. She co-founded a group with the motto "Deeds not words". This band of women became known as the suffragettes and Pankhurst led them through a series of uncompromising protests. Her call for supporters to “rush parliament” saw her sent to prison for the first time. As Pankhurst’s movement grew increasingly militant – arson and vandalism became a well-used tactics – spells behind bars turned into a regular occurrence. British society was astonished.

2. She never stopped campaigning, even in prison

Even behind bars the suffragettes strived to improve things. They objected to the conditions prisoners endured with a series of hunger strikes, many of which were brutally ended with force-feeding. It was a tactic by the authorities that ultimately back-fired, as the bad treatment led to increasing public sympathy towards the suffragette movement.

3. She contributed to two victories

When the First World War broke out Pankhurst called for a truce at home and paused her more aggressive tactics. As men headed for the battlefields, she encouraged women to step up and keep the country running – and they did. When the war was over calls for women’s suffrage could no longer be ignored and in 1918 some women over 30 got the vote. Ten years later men and women got the same voting rights, bitter-sweetly just weeks after Emmeline Pankhurst died.