Opposition of suffragettes

Men and women were against the suffrage movement for a variety of different reasons. Numerous opinion polls throughout the suffrage campaign continued to find the majority of women not wanting a vote, possibly due to naivety or doubt they had in the cause or through fear of the men's reactions to this. Some of the women believed in this so strongly that it led to their active involvement in anti-suffrage campaigning.

Women against the vote tended to see women’s role as concentrating on their womanly duties, a maternal role and house chores. They thought that children would learn through the example of their behaviour.

Anti-suffragist such as Mary Ward and Ouida and the traveller and diplomatist Gertrude Bell and contributed to the extension of women’s rights in other areas like Elizabeth Wordsworth, Principal of Lady Margaret Hall, the Oxford women’s college or Florence Bell, playwright and friend and collaborator with suffragist and social campaigner Elizabeth Robins. Sometimes, anti-suffrage campaigners collaborated in social action with their anti-suffrage views, their actions based on a belief in women’s vital role in doing good works and helping the disadvantaged.

Key dates:

1889- Launch of the ‘Appeal Against Female Suffrage’ with 104 signatories, led by Mary Ward, which when published in Nineteenth Century gathered 2,000 more signatures to ‘Female Suffrage: A Women’s Protest’

1908- Launch of the Women’s National Anti-Suffrage League. Over the next ten years, establishment of over 100 branches

1910- Merger with the Men’s League for Opposing Women’s Suffrage

Reasons to oppose the suffragettes

- Women already have the municipal vote. This meant they were eligible for membership of most local authorities. This deals with housing, education, childcare, workhouses etc. However,  parliament had to handle the administration of their empire with the  Army and Navy. Many people thought of this as a priority as they were fast approaching war

- Many women thought the past legislation in Parliament demonstrated that women were perfectly safe in the hands of men.

-The government relies on force, which women, due to physical, moral and social reasons, weren't capable of contributing.

- All government rests ultimately on force, to which women, owing to physical, moral and social reasons, are not capable of contributing.

- Women were physically unfit for direct competition with men.

- Woman Suffrage is based on the idea of the equality of the sexes, this was considered to destroy the idea of chivalry.

-The United Kingdom was the administrative and governing centre of a large system of colonies and dependencies. This meant that introducing a large female ele­ment into the Imperial electorate could make them seem weaker for many countries.

Cambridge university

Cambridge University was founded in 1209. It is the second oldest university in the English speaking world and the fourth oldest overall in the world. It grew from an association scholars who left Oxford after a dispute. Cambridge University is well known across the world and attracts many tourists. Girton college was founded in 1869 by Emily Davies, it was the first all female college studying core academic subjects such as English, Maths, Science and Latin. It was the first residential university level institution of higher learning for women. However, the women who studied there were limited to classic studies such as debating, history and physics. At Cambridge, it was very common for students to gather in order to have heated debates. Also, students would have big organised fights in the woods, study and play sport. The students weren't always well behaved and the university was often filled with prostitutes and students drinking heavily. Girton college was situated 4 miles away from any male college as it was deemed to be a safe distance.If students were unable to afford the education there were Sizar ship bursaries The uniform will consist of: bear caps, gowns open of the necks and showing gay shirts.Trinity college is the largest college at Cambridge and is very grand, traditional, sociable, rich and impressive containing a huge library which shows its great academic reputation.

Off text improvisation

In this exercises, we created two short scenes. In the first improvisation, I worked with Tom who plays Professor Collins. We decided to create some dialogue based around their need for Mr Banks to join them as Trinity College rather than him continuing teaching at Girton college. I learned that my character is outraged that women get the chance of being educated and that he thinks it is unfair as it breaks tradition and they don't deserve it. This could either be interpreted as him being sexist or simply trying to keep tradition an that he is genuinely convinced that the concept of women's education can never work. I also learned that Radleigh, Collins and Anderson share the same views and think a similar way and therefore have great respect for each other and have a strong and positive relationship with each other. This means that they will stand up for each other and are more likely to express their opinions as they know that this will be supported id there is any opposition. 

In the second scene, the characters were discussing whether they should give Tess a second chance. The characters in this second improvisation were Miss Blake, Professor Radleigh and Professor Collins. I learned that my character is very stubborn and is extremely reluctant to change his views. He is quite snobby and full of himself as he believes he is always right and doesn't allow anyone to tell him otherwise. He refuses to give Tess a second chance, regardless how how intelligent she is or how much potential she has. This is because he believes it is the only fair option. In some ways I can relate to him here, because he is only trying to do what is fair and thinks that if Tess gets a second chance, it would be unfair on everyone else. This adds depth to the character as he isn't just narrow minded and stubborn, he has sensible logic and motivation behind his strict attitude.

I found this exercise very useful as it allowed me to get into the mind frame of my character so that I could think in the same way as him and see things from his perspective. This helped me relate to my character and to see his motivation behind what he believes in or what he does. Furthermore, this exercise made me think quickly which was useful as Professor Radleigh is highly intelligent and quick witted.

Women's education

There was very little education for women in the 19th century. Women's education was seen as a burden or waste of money. Studying was considered to be bad for women as they were unable to cope with the challenging academic subjects which were seen as only being suitable for men. Education was seen as something which was only required for men, and if a woman wanted to go to school, she was mocked and looked down upon or seen as silly. A women's role in society in that era was to stay at home. At home, the women looked after the children and she was the one who taught the way for her offspring. She was required teach them their roles in life. However, many women were starting to see that they needed some sort of education because they were the ones who raised the children in the home. This meant that many women began to teach themselves so that they could improve their lives and the lives of their offspring. This led to the beginning of all female colleges. These colleges were created to educate the woman and to develop their skills in the home environment.

In 1869, Emily Davies founded Girton College. When she did this,  she was  opposed with the usual response and reaction that had earlier been directed at Cobbe. In 1868, she had observed that the best girls schools are those in which the ‘masculine’ or academic subjects have been introduced. These subjects included Mathematics, Greek and Latin. Emily Davies was convinced that their educational achievements be recognised as equally acceptable if women succeeded in subjects held to be prestigious for men. She rejected any idea of a special system or curriculum for women because, because she believed in complete equailty and believed that anything different may be potentially considered as inferior.

Mike Alfreds/Private Moment

In our acting technique lesson, we worked on Mike Alfred's approach of improvisation. I decided to do my improvisation in character as Radleigh. We began by creating an every day scenario which we would act out and focusing on a point of concentration, After this, we would repeat the exercise, but focusing on an objective as well as your point of concentration. This was observed my a partner who would give us feedback based on how clear our choices were to show our objective/point of concentration. They'd also tell us how believable they thought the improvisation was or whether it was over exaggerated in order to make it clearer. I decided to create a basic, mundane exercise of marking exam papers. My point of concentration was having a bad headache. This would effect my character as it would make his work slower, frustrate him and genuinely make the scene less pleasant. My objective was to fail the girls papers as I didn't believe in what they were fighting for and wanted to prove them wrong. This made the stakes of the scene higher and made me more determined in the scene, therefore adding more energy and making it more interesting/ intriguing. It also adds depth to a character and allows us to develop their back story and motivation. Acting on impulse makes performances more truthful and less repetitive. This always adds something fresh to a performance and makes it more interesting. Moreover, it adds detail to the actors work and gives them more freedom in order to expand their character and experiment with what works well. I think that this exercise was very useful as it made me think quickly and in character, it gave me acting impulses and new ideas which I hadn't thought of including previously. I will use this exercise more frequently as it challenges me to explore my characterisation by putting them in different situations to the text.

Suffragists and suffragettes

Difference between Suffragettes and Suffragists

The movement to gain votes for women was split into two parts; the suffragists and the suffragettes. Both the words come from the word "suffrage," which means "the right to vote."
A "suffragist" is anyone, regardless of gender, who demands or promotes the right to vote. They both fought to get the women's vote, however they did this in completley different ways. The Suffragists used peaceful, law-abiding methods such as using propaganda. However, the Suffragettes had a more direct approach. They protested by using violence and fear. They set fire to houses, attacked the police and other citizens.
The suffragists had their origins in the mid nineteenth century, while the suffragettes came into being in 1903. That’s why in Blue Stockings there is talks about Suffragists but not suffragettes.

Introduction and Background:

In the nineteenth century women had no place in national politics. They could not stand as candidates for Parliament. They were not even allowed to vote. It was assumed that women did not need the vote because their husbands would take responsibility in political matters. A woman's role was seen to be child-rearing and taking care of the home. As a result of the industrial revolution many women were in full-time employment, which meant they had opportunities to meet in large organised groups to discuss political and social issues. Organised campaigns for women's suffrage began to appear in 1866 and from 1888 women could vote in many local council elections. When parliamentary reform was being debated in 1867, John Stuart Mill proposed an amendment that would have given the vote to women on the same terms as men but it was rejected by 194 votes to 73. The campaign gained momentum after this. Nineteenth century feminists talked about "The Cause". This described a movement for women's rights generally. It had no particular political focus. But by the close of the century the issue of the vote became the focus of women's struggle for equality.

What did they Campaign for?

Before the first suffrage reforms in 1832 only 3% of the male populations could vote as it depended on how much they had and the value of their property/properties. As a result of this the only people that could vote were rich men. Therefore in 1800s campaigners fought to extend this which happend in 1867 and in 1884. This meant more people could vote but under these reforms women still couldn’t vote.
Campaigners wanted women to vote on the same terms as men. This is due to many campaigners were middle class women. They wanted it to be extended to all women not just wealthy ones.

Why were they campaigning?

They were campaigning for women not having the right to vote, this shows the inequality in their society. Campaigners wanted women to vote as they felt the laws were biased against women and reinforced the idea of women as inferior to men. For example, until 1882, women’s property would belong to her husband when they got married. As well as this, women now had to pay taxes on the businesses the new law permitted them to own. In addition to this, Campaigners wanted equal status for all men and women, they felt getting the right to vote and have a voice in the parliament would do this.

How did they Campaign?

People campaigned in a variety of different ways. For example The National Union of Women’s Suffrage had a peaceful and slow approach which included public meeting, leaflets, newspapers and journals. However the Suffragettes Women’s Social and political Union used more violent approaches such as setting public places on fire, disrupted speeches in the House of Commons. Anyone who took part in this went to prison.

MillIcent Fawcett:

Many suffragist groups existed all over the country, however their aim was all the same: to achieve the right to vote for women through constitutional, peaceful means. There were regional groups, especially in urban centres such as Manchester, which held public meetings and petitioned at local level. Millicent Fawcett campagined at National level. In 1897, regional societies with no political party allegiances established to lobby peacefully for the Parliamentary vote came together to form the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). This was led by Millicent Fawcett. Garrett published widely on women's issues and was a frequent public speaker on women's rights. She was the wife of an MP called Henry Fawcett, and regularly sat in the Ladies' Gallery of the House of Commons to watch the debates. Her influenical and determined leadership of the NUWSS made it a substantial and significant impact in the campaign for women's votes.

Radleigh physicalisation

We began this exercise by embodying our character before walking around the room as our character. This allowed me to experiment with different postures and physical traits in order to develop bolder characterisation for and interesting mannerisms for Professor Radleigh. I could see what was effective and which traits didn't suit my character. I was also able to develop mannerisms for my character which helped get into the mindframe of my character. I tried walking with my hands behind my back which looked good but felt restricting. I decided to hold my hand by my side and created a clear mannerism which was very exercise for my character. My hand seemed to always be fidgeting which showed how he is always thinking. I also walked around and lead from my chest in order to make my character seem more confident and powerful. I felt like this gave me a high status as it gave my character a sense of pride and a sense of arrogance too. This was useful as it gave my character more control and authority and helped me make these characteristics clearer to the audience. These were called ideosynchrasies. We used a physical action to represent the action we used behind our line. E.g. The action to shut down would be accompanied by a physical action of pushing away in order to show the rejection of the previous idea that is being shut down. This helped me to think in more detail about his objectives and what he wanted as he said every line. 

19th Century Class System

The Upper Class

The upper classes were otherwise knows as the aristocracy. This included royalty, lords, knights, gentlemen etc. Although the upper classes were generally extremely wealthy, wealth alone didn't define one as upper class. Many established upper class families weren’t wealthy and didn’t have much money at all. However, they refused to sell property or possessions as they believed it belonged to their families' future generations. The family name was considered more important than wealth. This idea of tradition and respect links in with Blue Stockings as many of the male characters do not want to change their ways and are too stubborn to give in as they believe they will lose power or their dignity. Respect for a family name provided political, social and financial opportunities which lower classes couldn’t not receive.

The Working Class

The working class formed the greatest portion of the population by a long way. This included factory workers, soldiers, servants, builders etc. In general, if you worked with your hands did manual work you were considered to be working class, and that affected how much money you earned and living conditions. It was common for a single member of the upper middle class to employ hundreds, even thousands, of working class people. This shows how rare it was for someone to be upper or middle class in the 19th century. Working class life was hard work and very dangerous. Working conditions were very often tough, with long hours and poor safety measures in place, and the overcrowded living spaces. Working class lives were seen as not being very important to their employers because there wasn’t much between starvation and whatever work you could find. Most working class family members would work, including the women and children, and still struggle to feed, house and clothe themselves.