Emmeline Pankhurst Learn English through story level 3
freedom
emmeline pankhurst the woman who wanted
women to be able to vote
i campaigned all my life for equal
rights for women
i started a political group which fought
for the vote for women in britain
after many years of protests we finally
won the right for british women to vote
when i was born in 1858
women in britain didn’t have the same
rights as men
most women couldn’t go to school or
university
they were only allowed to work in
certain jobs
and they didn’t have the right to vote
i grew up in manchester in the north of
england
and i saw many problems every day
mothers had to bring up children in
small
dirty houses disease was
everywhere because of the terrible
conditions
and most women only lived until they
were around 50 years old
i knew from a young age that i
wanted to improve women’s lives
my parents believed in human rights
they believed that education was a right
for
women as well as men
in 1873 my parents sent me to school in
paris
they wanted me to get a wider view of
the world
in paris i was disappointed
to discover that women were still not
equal with men
after the french revolution action was
needed
and i returned to england to begin the
fight
in britain the political situation was
quite
unusual our ruler was a woman
queen victoria she was a powerful leader
but she wasn’t interested in women’s
rights
our politicians were all men and they
definitely weren’t interested in
political equality for women
in 1879 i was surprised to discover a
man
who was campaigning for women’s rights
his name was richard pankhurst and he
was a lawyer
we shared many of the same beliefs and
ideas
we got married and started a family
[Music]
for almost 20 years richard and i
fought for political rights for women
and sadly my dear husband died
my daughters and i were very sad but we
decided to continue
our campaign the two oldest daughters
christabel and sylvia became activists
in 1903 we started the women’s
social and political union
wspu it was a group that
fought for the right for women to vote
christobel became one of our bravest
leaders
sylvia was an artist and she designed
our posters and signs
[Music]
the wsbu organized many public meetings
and protests
sometimes the police arrested our
members
christabel was one of the first to go to
prison
when our members were in prison we
protested
and when our members came out of prison
we
celebrated in the streets
it was very important to get public
attention
[Applause]
unfortunately the government didn’t
agree with our campaign
we had to take more powerful action
some of our members began to break the
law
they lit fires in buildings and broke
windows
our campaign was a war for these women
for me it was always a fight
for equal rights
every time i was arrested i told the
judge
we don’t want to break laws we want to
make
new laws but the lawyers and politicians
didn’t want to listen
[Music]
in 1910 prime minister asquith
the government leader stopped a new law
that gave women the vote
we were shocked and angry on friday
the 18th of november i led a group of
women to meet the prime minister
but he refused to see us we started to
protest in the street
and a hundred women were arrested
it was a terrible day we called it
black friday
in 1914 the first world war began
and we agreed to stop our campaign
women were now needed as nurses in
hospitals
and to work in factories and on farms
in 1917 we started a new group
with a new name the women’s party
in 1918 the first world war
ended the government realized
that women were an important part of the
victory in the war
at last women were given the right to
vote
but only women over 30 years old who
owned a home could vote
any man over 21 could vote
we still didn’t have full equality
[Music]
after the war i went to live in the usa
calendar
and also bermuda
in 1926 i returned to
england i wanted to become a politician
but my health wasn’t good enough
in 1928 only three weeks before i died
a new law gave women the same right
to vote as men
it took much longer than we hoped
but in the end our campaign was
successful
and at last we won political equality
for women