Working Class Women in the Suffrage Movement

The Woman Worker, 1907 - LSE Library (detail)

In this podcast suffrage historian Dr Jill Liddington discusses the too-often forgotten working-class women in the Suffrage movement.

The podcast starts by highlighting the obstacles faced by working-class women seeking to join the campaign for women's suffrage, and yet at how many did join the movement nonetheless. Dr Liddington then looks at the significant contribution working-class women made to the campaign, such as collecting more than 29,000 signatures for one petition to parliament in 1901. She shows how working-class women campaigners were often portrayed and treated quite differently from (and sometimes by) their middle-class counterparts, and highlights some key individuals to remember. The podcast finishes by looking at recent changes in research on and presentation of the Suffrage movement, and with a review of where we are now in terms of material for studying working-class women in the movement.

1. Introduction: the overlooked contribution of working class women
2. Were there many working class women in the suffrage movement?
3. Were working class women suffragists and suffragettes?
4. What did working class women contribute to the campaign?
5. Were working class women treated or portrayed differently?
6. Which working class women should we remember and what do they tell us?
7. Changes in research
8. Where are we now?