Vote 100: Suffragists

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act, GWL is developing an animated web resource highlighting the forgotten heroines who have campaigned for women across the world to have the right to vote.

Suffragists adopted a peaceful and non-confrontational approach to campaigning. Members believed that success could be gained by argument and education.

Lin Zongsu

Lin Zongsu was a Chinese suffragist and writer who founded the first women’s suffrage organisation in China.

Concepción Felix de Calderón

Concepción Felix de Calderon was born in the Philippines in 1884 and founded the Feminist Association of the Philippines in 1905.

Qiu Jin

Qiu Jin was a Chinese revolutionary feminist and poet who was known as China’s Joan of Arc.

Sojourner Truth

At a meeting of women’s rights activists the noise from heckling clergymen was so bad that no one could quieten them. Then Sojourner Truth spoke out: ‘Ain’t I a Woman?’ By the time she finished, the disrespect had turned to a roar of approval.

Annot Wilkie

Annot Wilkie was the Dundee organiser for the WSPU, but later left and became a suffragist, joining the NUWSS.

Jane Arthur

Jane Arthur was a suffragist from Paisley who became the first Scottish woman to be elected to a Scottish school board in 1873.

Flora McDonald Denison

Flora McDonald Denison was a Canadian dressmaker, writer, journalist, innkeeper, social reformer, feminist, and suffragist.

Eunice Guthrie Murray

Eunice Guthrie Murray was a Suffragist, political activist, historian, and author who championed women’s rights throughout her life.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an abolitionist, human rights activist and one of the first leaders of the woman’s rights movement in America.

Jane Taylour

Jane Taylour was a Suffragist and one of the first women to give lectures in public.