The Suffragettes never gave up – nor will Rejoiners

Jon Danzig | 7 March 2025

Every year on 8 March, International Women’s Day celebrates the economic, cultural, political, and social achievements of women while also recognising the ongoing fight for gender equality.

And 100 years is about how long it took for women in the United Kingdom to win the right to vote.

Women – along with the men who supported them – campaigned relentlessly for Parliament to grant them suffrage. Yet, time and again, their demands were rejected.

But those brave and determined women – known as suffragettes – didn’t give up.

Even after losing vote after vote in their fight for democracy, they continued campaigning.

Eventually, they won. In 1918, Parliament passed the Representation of the People Act, granting voting rights to some women for the first time. However, this was a limited victory, as only women over 30 who met property requirements could vote.

Still, they did not accept partial progress as enough. They kept fighting for full and equal voting rights.

In the UK, all women over the age of 21 finally gained the right to vote on 2 July 1928 – but only after decades of struggle and perseverance.

▪ Resistance to women’s suffrage

The opposition to women’s suffrage wasn’t limited to Parliament. Many people – including women – actively campaigned against it.

As noted by the British Library:

“The campaign for the [women’s] vote was a long one, most obviously because of resistance by male politicians but also because public support for the female franchise was far from overwhelming.”

By 1914, the National League for Opposing Women’s Suffrage had 42,000 paying members, plus thousands more supporters. The movement gathered over half a million signatures in petitions against votes for women and even demanded a national referendum on the issue.

You can imagine those ‘antis’ shouting at suffragettes as they marched:

“Give up! You lost!”

▪ The parallels with Brexit

Doesn’t that sound familiar?

For years following the Brexit referendum, Leavers have told Remainers to ‘give up’ because they lost. But they forget that losing a vote didn’t stop them from campaigning for another.

After all, Brexiters – then called Eurosceptics – lost the 1975 referendum on whether Britain should remain in the European Economic Community. They lost again in the 1983 general election when Labour campaigned on a platform of leaving the European Community.

Yet, despite those defeats, they carried on.

Just as the suffragettes did.

Just as Rejoiners are doing now.

▪ Democracy is not set in stone

In a democracy, no vote is final.

Any vote can be revisited, overturned, or reaffirmed. Democracy allows for new opportunities to reconsider past decisions.

Had women accepted defeat every time they lost, they would never have won the right to vote.

Losing a vote is never a reason to stop fighting for what you believe in.

As American civil rights advocate William H. Hastie once said:

“Democracy is a process, not a static condition.”

▪ The long fight for women’s suffrage

The path to women’s voting rights in Britain was not straightforward. It was a long process of defeat after defeat, followed by persistence and eventual victory.

1832 – Mary Smith presents the first petition for women’s suffrage to Parliament. It is rejected. The Great Reform Act formally excludes women from voting.
1866 – MP John Stuart Mill presents a petition for women’s suffrage. It fails, prompting the formation of suffrage societies in Edinburgh, London, and Manchester.
1867 – Mill presents another suffrage petition to Parliament. It fails. The National Society for Women’s Suffrage is founded.
1881 – The Isle of Man grants women the right to vote.
1884 – An amendment to the Third Reform Bill to include women is rejected.
1897 – The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) is formed, uniting over 20 suffrage organisations.
1903 – Emmeline Pankhurst founds the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), adopting militant tactics.
1905 – Suffragette activists Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney are arrested and imprisoned. “Deeds, not words” and “Votes for women” become rallying cries.
1913 – Commons Speaker rules against a suffrage amendment. Suffragettes resort to bombs and arson. The “Cat and Mouse” Act is passed, allowing hunger-striking prisoners to be temporarily released and rearrested.

That year, Emily Wilding Davison makes the ultimate sacrifice. She steps onto the racecourse at the Derby, directly into the path of King George V’s horse. Four days later, she dies from her injuries. Her funeral draws thousands of mourners, with tens of thousands lining the streets.

1918 – The Representation of the People Act is passed, granting some women the right to vote.
1928 – The Representation of the People Act is amended to give equal voting rights to men and women over 21.