Cat and Mouse Act

The Cat and Mouse Act was introduced due to the hunger strikes carried out by Emmeline and Christabel's suffragettes. Imprisoned women would refuse to eat, aiming to embarrass the government and create attention for women's rights.

The suffragettes were successful, especially in embarrassing the government, so as a result, the women were force-fed. This was an action usually only taken in lunatic asylums and hence was very controversial. Although it prevented death within the prison which would be even worse for the government, it did not help their image, reflecting poor control of their people.

This is where the Cat and Mouse Act comes into play. The government resolved the issue in 1913 through relatively simple logic: When a suffragette was arrested and went on hunger strike, the government stopped force-feeding them and rather left them to become ill and weak, a state in which they were not able to harm the public. They would then be released 'on license' so they didn't die in the prison and create political drama. The period of time the women received out of prison was included in their sentence and then they would be re-arrested to finish their sentence, whereby it was likely they would again go on hunger strike and so the 'Cat and Mouse' scenario moves in circles.

The idea of being released assumed that the suffragette would begin to eat again and regain strength. With this new strength, they would be put back into the prison, making life easier on the government. 

The name 'Cat and Mouse Act' was brought about due to a cat's tendency to play with its prey before it is killed.

It is arguable as to whether the Cat and Mouse Act was actually effective in preventing suffragette actions against the government, however at the time it did "save" the government's reputation. Violent acts by the movement did not actually cease until 1914 when World War One broke out.      

Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU)

In October 1903, Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Women's Social and Political Union in Manchester. The Independent Labour party (ILP) was the main suffrage movement however, Pankhurst believed that they were not very committed to women's rights, using limited actions. As a result, from the very beginning, the WSPU created the motto, 'deeds not words', which they aimed to live by.

Although the WSPU did not start out as a militant movement, they later became one, arguably, due to the government. In 1906, the liberal Party came to power which brought hopes of women's rights as liberalism literally means 'a political philosophy focussed on equality'. However, political reform did not come about, making the suffragettes angry and causing controversial acts. The women thought the more militant and hard their actions were - for example, going to prison rather than paying a fine - the more headlines they would get for their cause, which was most important to the movement. Emmeline's daughter, Christabel wrote, 'This was the beginning of a campaign the like of which was never known in England, or for that matter in any other country...we interrupted a great many meetings...and were violently thrown out and insulted. Often we were painfully bruised and hurt.' These radical actions were so different to those of any other suffragettes at the time who were merely polite and gentle. The WSPU believed they had to force the government to give them what they wanted otherwise it would never happen.

It was argued that the WSPU were only focussed on political rights rather than equality on all levels. For example, women were still payed less than men in the exact same job and were generally considered a minority under men regardless of their political rights such as being able to vote. For this reason, many were against the WSPU.

The WSPU were often in a level of danger as the police manhandled them frequently when they interrupted meetings and often misused their powers. Commoners and thugs who didn't agree with the group would try to set them as outcasts, often interrupting their meetings and trying to stop the movement.  

The actions of the WSPU before the war can be categorised into three separate phases:

1. 1905-1918: publicity seen as 'good' and the only major acts were disrupting political meetings.
2. 1908-1913: Threats to public order, although kept to a minimum. This included smashing windows and chaining railings. The aim here was to embarrass the government through hunger strikes in prison, etc.
3. 1913-1914: Attacks on properties of significance such as churches and Westminster Abbey.

A Timeline of Emmeline Pankhurst's Life

I started researching about Emmeline Pankhurst this week and the extraordinary life she led. I thought I'd put a timeline together to provide a brief biography of her life.

14th July, 1858 - Emmeline Pankhurst was born in England. Her father was heavily involved in politics, as was her mother who took her along to suffrage meetings.
1879 - Emmeline married Richard Pankhurst to whom she later had three daughters with. Richard was Emmeline's main source of support as he too was passionate about women's rights.  
1st January, 1889 - Women's Franchise League was established, an organisation founded by Emmeline and her husband.
1st January, 1894 - The right for married women to vote! This was a big step which is said to have 'truly changed the world'. However, they could only vote in elections for local offices and not in the House of Commons.
1898 - Richard Pankhurst died.
16th March, 1903 - Women's social and Political Union was established, which was later changed to simply, 'The Women's Party' in 1917. From this point, the suffrage movement attracted more widespread attention.
1905 - Emmeline's daughter Christabel as well as Annie Kenney were arrested and taken to jail as a result of being thrown out of a liberal election for demanding women's rights and then technically assaulting police (threatening them) and not paying their fines. Emmeline became a supporter of the 'jail' idea, encouraging members of the suffragette movement to attract attention and make a more dominant stand by being arrested for a  worthwhile cause.
1908-09 - Emmeline Pankhurst is jailed three times.
1912 - The WSPU becomes militant in their actions. This included arson attacks, window smashing and hunger strikes. Emmeline is arrested and released 12 times during the year.
1913 - The Cat and Mouse, or Prisoner's, Act meant that prisoner's who were on hunger-strike could be freed and then reimprisoned without it affecting the duration of their sentence.
1914 - World war I begins so Emmeline calls off the suffragette campaign in order to help the war effort. 
February 1918 - Representation of People Act is passed, giving the right to vote to women over 30.
14th June, 1928 - Emmeline Pankhurst died at the age of 69, having achieved what she desired most- the right for women to vote.

Planning the Assessment/Proposal

Now that I have completely decided on my personality to study, Emmeline Pankhurst, my next task is to put together a sophisticated reading/source list for research purposes. So far I have:

1. The most important- 'My Own Story', a biography written by Emmeline Pankhurst herself, published in 1914.

2. 'Emmeline Pankhurst, a biography', written by J. Purvis and published in 2002.
3. A movie which I am very excited about! It's called 'Suffragette' , directed by S. Gavron, and comes out later this month.

4. I also noticed that my, 'Turning Points, Modern History Depth Studies Textbook', has a whole chapter devoted to the suffragette movement, featuring Emmeline Pankhurst so that will be good to look at also.

I also have a few websites and journal snippets which I will add to my final bibliography.

This week has got me thinking about how I will approach the assessment as I am completing the proposal aspect. I am thinking that I will stick with the set essay question as it is fitting for my personality- positive impact: women's rights. Although I'm open to flexibility if I want to incorporate other aspects of Pankhurst's life into my essay.

I've been coming up with a few minor questions as well to get me thinking:

• What was the context of her time?
• What prompted her to become a suffragette?
• Why couldn't women vote in the first place? Female voting rights is something I've grown up with so it's normal to me
• Were there any negative impacts?
• Why was she so militant? did it borderline terrorism? How did she justify her actions?
• How did it compare with other radical movements of the time?

And the list goes on...

I'm getting excited to learn more about her and hope to have some things I've learned to share next week.

What to do...?

A few days ago, our Modern History class was only three days into the preliminary course when we received our very first assessment task, on Wednesday the 18th of November, 2015 to be exact. It isn't due until Thursday the 22nd of March next year, but it's a big one, worth 30%, so procrastinating probably isn't the best action plan in this case!

Essentially, the task is an independent, in depth historical investigation on a topic/personality of our own choosing. It involves a lot of research and scattered due dates leading up to the final assessment submission of a mini essay 'outlining four key events in the life of the personality you have investigated that proved their making as a leader' which only has to be 300-400 words. However, there is also an 800-1000 word essay due at the same time asking, 'to what extent did the personality you have studied have a positive impact on his or her times?' We do have the option of creating our own focus question which I am contemplating, but I won't really know whether I will do that for a while yet- I want to keep my options open.

At the moment I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed with the task, however, I think once I get my head around it and actually start, I will really enjoy it- call me crazy but it does kind of help that I like writing essays! I want to choose a research option that I will find really interesting since I have to think about it for the next four months...which is a really, really long time for one topic. I also want to choose a personality that I don't know a lot about to "broaden my horizons", as my mother might say. Anyone that knows me, knows I'm a bit (or a lot) of a girly-girl so I really want to do an influential female as I think I'd enjoy studying a woman more and may possibly even grow to admire her as I learn more and more. It is also very important to me that I choose a topic that will make me think a bit differently about the world- as a 17 year old teenager, I feel quite naïve, and love ideas or concepts that really challenge me in myself and my views.

So, in saying all of that, I am 80% sure I will do Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) focussing on the Suffragette Movement. At the moment I have only a basic understanding of her significance, but that leaves a lot of room for research and that way I know I won't get bored, which is a good thing! I think studying her would be interesting, especially considering the lengths that she went to, to stand up for a cause she believed in- even though feminism is becoming increasingly popular, women's right's are something we still take for granted and I would love to learn more about how the body of women we know today came to be.

Overall I am looking forward to this assessment and to learning more about the history of this amazing world we live in! Now to make a reading list...