I was more quickly drawn into this film than I expected. The story immediately frames the suffrage movement in Britain in terms of the lower class working women who needed it most. The suffrage leadership is a distant mover impacting the actions of the main characters. The British experience of suffrage protest was surprisingly more violent than the American experience. In some ways British society had further to go at that time in recognizing the value of women. Historically, Britain also lagged behind America in granting the vote to women. Often the year 1918 is quoted as when British women earned the vote, but only a limited number were privileged at this time. The female vote was limited to women over age 30 who met minimum property requirements. This would certainly exclude all lower class working women. Working women often did not live to see age 30 given the hazards of child bearing, poor working conditions, and social violence. In 1908, the average life expectancy of all UK women at birth, regardless of social class, was just 43 years. Not until 1928 was the vote extended to women with more equality. Having recently researched this topic, I was pleased by the high level of social historical accuracy depicted.
To sum up, the movie used gripping story lines to convey a number of important truths of the era preceding the female right to vote: 1) women had few or no rights over their own children or property; 2) working conditions in female sweatshops were dangerous; 3) sexual assault was hardly considered a crime; 4) child labor was common and necessary for family income; 5) few women received an education beyond grade school, if that; 6) economic stress broke up many poor families; and 7) a small number of men actively supported women's suffrage. Amusingly, although one politician in the film complains that if women get the vote, they will next want to run for Parliament. Ironically, that is a right women received in 1918 before most women could vote. Clearly, the male-dominated society compromised by first extending all rights to upper class women (whom they believed were controlled in thought and deed by their powerful husbands).
This film is a historical fiction that conveys both a gripping story and a valuable women's history lesson.
To sum up, the movie used gripping story lines to convey a number of important truths of the era preceding the female right to vote: 1) women had few or no rights over their own children or property; 2) working conditions in female sweatshops were dangerous; 3) sexual assault was hardly considered a crime; 4) child labor was common and necessary for family income; 5) few women received an education beyond grade school, if that; 6) economic stress broke up many poor families; and 7) a small number of men actively supported women's suffrage. Amusingly, although one politician in the film complains that if women get the vote, they will next want to run for Parliament. Ironically, that is a right women received in 1918 before most women could vote. Clearly, the male-dominated society compromised by first extending all rights to upper class women (whom they believed were controlled in thought and deed by their powerful husbands).
This film is a historical fiction that conveys both a gripping story and a valuable women's history lesson.
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