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What were the differences in the aims of the suffragists and suffragettes?

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hellymyname | 14:27 Tue 15th Dec 2009 | History
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The suffragists were the original campaigners for women's rights and included many academics, philosophers and even doctors (eg Elizabeth Garret Anderson), both male and female.
The suffragettes was originally a sneering derogatory term coined by one of the Beaverbrook papers for the more militant actions espoused by the WSPU founded by Emmeline Pankhurst and furthered by her daughters Christabel, Sylvia and Adela. WSPU tactics were militant and more or less alienated them from the established suffragists. On the other hand their hellfire attracted plenty of media attention, and a fair number of possibly unbalanced fanatics, leading for example to the death of Emily Davison at Epsom in 1913. The WSPU adopted the catchier name suffragettes for their own, turning a media hate campaign to their own advantage.
The arrival of war in 1914 split the WSPU with some members wishing to continue with militant tactics, whereas Christabel (who I personally believe suffered a mental breakdown following press harassment) became a rabid war supporter, and eventually an evangelical Christian.
The vote was granted to women over 30 in 1919, and it can be debated whether this was because of or in spite of suffragette militancy.
Sorry, missed part of your OP out. The suffragists used intellectual debate, reason, and slow consistent pressure to change the law, for example allowing them to join universities by the 1880's. This process was by its very nature slower to attract attention than burning down cricket pavilions as suffragettes did, but also attracted regular mockery in the media. 'Punch' magazine often portrayed the suffragist woman as ugly, thin and unfashionable--ie unattractive to men. Says it all I suppose.
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