‘Suffrage Ladies’ and the ‘Shrieking Sisterhood’

Abstract

The WSPU, although it stole most of the headlines, was of course not the only suffrage society in Britain at the turn of the century. The NUWSS had not evaporated, but grown stronger, as it would continue to do, and although the NUWSS never sanctioned militancy, the suffragists and suffragettes worked together relatively harmoniously during the first few years of the WSPU’s existence. The suffragists and suffragettes then divided over the political efficacy and appropriateness of militant action, as well as over other ideological differences.