Women’s Social and Political Union

The WSPU (Women’s Social and Political Union) had tried a lot since 1903, demanding the vote using violent methods. These ways disrupted the society, as this is what they wanted, so they could get enough attention to get the vote. This group was set up Emmeline Pankhurst, with the aim to intensify the campaign for women’s votes.

The poster designed by the WSPU in 1912, propagates the injustice women had to face in that time towards not being able to vote because of their gender. The point the women were trying to put across was that ‘despite the fact that we are women, we are more useful and intellectual then men and can serve the country in many ways that men are not capable of doing’. They declare that a woman can be a sophisticated Mayor in charge of the country, a mother responsible for bringing up the next generation, a factory hand serving the country, or even a nurse healing the wounded soldiers in a war, helping to win a battle.

A teacher and a doctor should especially be getting the vote as a teacher is moral, understanding, caring and intellectual, as well as educating the generation to come. As for a doctor, she would also have similar personal qualities, such as being caring towards the patient, cultured, well educated and could also ass to the war effort by helping to cure the soldiers back into health, perhaps even being the cause for a great victory of the country.

This poster proved regardless of how women could be, they still could not vote. Whereas it demonstrates how useless men could be to the country and were still able to vote. They could be a lunatic, a drunkard or even be unfit for service and not be able to serve the country in any way, and still be welcomed to vote due to their gender. The poster protests against the sexist system of the government and aspired for it to be more righteous.

Women were right to use propaganda and argue their points against the sexist society, and the way women were portrayed in society by men. The year the poster was produced in, 1912, is very important as after their final aggressive acts in Piccadilly, Oxford St. and Regent St. and their attempt to blow up a Cinema was not successful, they decided to get through to people in a more subtle way, change their tactics and get through to the public through common sense.