Kitted out in full Egham Rangers uniform (and with Ursula debuting her Guiding Leader t-shirt!) we arrived en masse at Egham Museum having been invited to contribute to a BBC Civilisations Festival debate by its chair Dr. Stella Moss. The debate topic questioned whether a society could be considered truly civilised if a portion of its population can’t vote. 100 years ago the fact that women are a vital part of our society was recognised by women being given the vote. Like women before the Suffragist Movement changed the way our society works forever, there are still portions of our society unable to vote: the homeless, immigrants, and, most relevant to our Egham Rangers, all individuals under the age of 18.
The debate began with a presentation by Dr. Stella Moss that provided us with an overview of the Suffragette and Suffragist Movements, and their key triumphs and setbacks. We learnt how the difference between a Suffragette and a Suffragist is that the Suffragettes were militant and law-breaking, ardently believing that drastic measures were needed in order to effect change after so many years of failed peaceful attempts for votes for women. The Suffragists, however, maintained that it is morally and socially wrong to break the law, and so condoned much of the Suffragettes illegal activities. Within these two overarching movements were many splinter groups and organisations; they were based all over the country, for all classes, all genders and from all backgrounds. The thing that united everybody, however, was the believe that women should have a voice in society: by giving women the vote they could have a real say in what went on in the society they lived in, and were a vital part of. We learnt about several of the key women and what they did to help the cause (Emily Wilding Davison, for example, hid herself in a cupboard in the Houses of Parliament the night of the census, risking arrest!), and what they suffered as a result of their beliefs. Some women were brutalised within and without prison: they were beaten and sometimes even molested, disowned from families, violently force-fed in prisons, and arrested as common criminals rather than political prisoners (an important distinction). We learnt how women (and men) from all over the country walked for days and days on end to spread the message of Suffragism to rural communities, in their long skirts (they were permitted to shorten their skirts by an inch, this doesn’t help at all when wading through thick mud!)
After this the real debating began. Facilitated by Amy from Egham Museum (who would become a familiar and much appreciated face in the project, more on this later), we were asked our debate topic. Silence ensured. Then a voice piped up. It was one of our Egham Rangers beginning the debate with a brilliant point about using online facilities to make voting more accessible to a modern-day audience. Dr. Moss found herself responding more and more to many amazing points and questions raised by Rangers, and members of the public also found themselves nicely challenged by these socially engaged, politically articulate young women who knew how to hold the floor!
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