Suffragettes, myths and heroes

NOTION MYTHS AND HEROES

Introduction

        I’m going to talk about the notion of Myths and Heroes. To begin with, I’d like to give a very short definition of myth because in class we focused on the notion of hero. So first, a myth can be defined as a story about gods or heroes. Then, a hero can be a mythological figure, a person who is admired for his or her achievements, a superhero or maybe a role model or an icon. I would like to illustrate that notion through the theme of the Suffragettes. The term Suffragette is used to refer to any British woman who campaigned for the right to vote. However, originally the Suffragettes were activists belonging to the Women’s Social and Political Union and were born out the suffragist movement.

That’s why we may ask the following question : « To what extent can we say that the Suffragettes be considered as role models for other women ? »

First of all, I will concentrate on the Suffragettes’s fight before focusing on the impact there has been on society.

1. The Suffragettes’s fight British women : « Deeds not Words ! »

At the beginning of the 20th (twentieth) century, the women were treated as intellectually inferior, or even unable to think for themselves, and therefore no entitled to the same rights as men.

In 1903, Emmeline Pankhurst founded with other women the Women’s Social and Political Union. « Deeds not words » was the motto of the Suffragettes. They wanted to draw attention to their cause until the government couldn’t resist anymore and give them the rights they wanted.

The women smashed windows and thrown stones in the street to be heard. A woman, dressed in black, has chained herself to railings. Moreover, men are trying to stop the Suffragettes hunger strike. Those women are force-fed by those men. As a consequence, as the government didn’t want any scandal, they were preventing women from hunger-striking. Furthermore, they didn’t want them to become martyrs.

In 1913, Emily Davidson died while she tried to stop King George V’s horse at a derby. Davidson was regarded as a martyr by public opinion.

1. The impact it had on society Feminist effects on society from Wikipedia 

        Nonetheless, during World War I, these women proved that they were indispensable for the nation. That is to say, they helped in armament factories and agriculture. The government needed them to rule the country.

On the one hand, the women obtained many rights regarding their personal lives such as : the right to initiate divorece proceedings, more bodily integrity and autonomy, the right to own property. They also have an access to contraceptives and abortion etc.

On the other and, the women have obtained the same rights as men such as : the same pay as men, the right to serve in the military. They also have a greater access to education and equal rights in law and the right to vote. The government granted them the right to vote, at one condition : women had to be older than 30 years old in 1918. They had to wait 10 years to have the right to vote at any age in 1928.

...