THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN SCOTLAND, 1867-1928: A LEARNING RESOURCE UNDERSTANDING THE OPPOSITION: THE ANTI-SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN SCOTLAND Linda Fleming In this section you will find information on the following: Some of the ways that opposition to the women’s suffrage campaign was expressed during the nineteenth century Why a more formal and organised anti-suffrage campaign was begun in the early twentieth century, the political background to this move, and who was involved with this initiative What beliefs motivated some women to oppose suffrage, and what arguments were made by anti-suffrage campaigners Information about the Scottish branches of the anti-suffrage campaign and their activities V ? On the right is one of the many badges designed for the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) – founded in 1896 this brought numerous suffrage groups spread across the UK into affiliation. NUWSS grew and promoted a campaign based on peaceful lobbying for democratic change. On the left is an enamelled pin worn by members of The National League for Opposing Women’s Suffrage, established in 1910. The membership of this group was fiercely against granting women the parliamentary vote. Introduction In twenty-first century Scotland, it is usual to look with dismay, and even anger, at societies that continue to deny women full political representation. Yet it is only one hundred years since some women achieved the right to vote in general elections in the United Kingdom—not really such a long time. Though many things have changed in terms of gender equality over the course of this century, and indeed, continue to change, this hasn’t happened overnight. Even when laws have been passed, it has often taken many years for general societal views to shift. We know that a long hard fight took place before the battle for the vote was won, and along the way suffrage campaigners did manage to change the hearts and minds of many—but by no means all found it so easy to accept that women deserved to take their place at the ballot box. Instead, this was a campaign that continually met with staunch resistance. It is understandable to assume that most of those who were against women obtaining the parliamentary vote were men, but this was not the case. Often, it was women who were just as ardent in speaking out against equality of voting rights. Even following the efforts made by women workers during the First World War, and up to the point that legislation to partially enfranchise women was enacted in 1918, anti-suffragists were still expressing disagreement with this move towards greater equality. This may seem surprising, but history is full of such surprises! Perhaps even more startling to modern eyes is the fact that while many of the women who took an anti-suffrage stance absolutely maintained that exercising the parliamentary franchise was not a suitable occupation for women, in other areas they were not reactionary traditionalists. Indeed, many were women who had an active interest in politics and believed in improving women’s rights in a number of areas such as employment, education and access to healthcare: however, they did not believe that extending voting rights was the best way to bring about such change. The Nineteenth Century Background There is a view that during the last decades of the nineteenth century, for the mass of people, antagonism to women’s suffrage was passive—the ordinary woman or man was simply not that interested. Yet this is an understanding we should question; as suffrage activism grew in the last decades of the nineteenth century, both its supporters and detractors could come from the most unlikely places: the example which follows, provides evidence of this. Two women, two different views: In late nineteenth century Scotland, it was certainly possible to read about anti- suffrage views in broadsheet newspapers such as the Scotsman, Glasgow Herald, Dundee Courier and Aberdeen Press and Journal; and, as we have seen, within literary journals such as Blackwood’s Magazine (see The Women’s Suffrage Movement in Scotland: the early years). However, the matter was also discussed in more popular media and it is fair to conclude that this thorny issue had a wide cultural circulation in Scotland—much wider than has been realised until relatively recently. For instance, the Glasgow Weekly Mail was an early example of what nowadays we might think of as the tabloid press. It was published each Saturday, and in the late 1870s around 200,000 people bought this weekly paper, which carried news alongside sensational stories. On top of this, the actual size of the paper’s readership was even larger, as copies would be passed around families and neighbours (and even posted overseas). It’s quite possible that a million or more people read the Mail each week. Given the size of Scotland’s population, this made it a phenomenally successful organ for spreading current opinion. One popular feature of the paper was a poetry column to which amateur writers sent contributions. As well as the usual romantic poems about finding love, or rhapsodies on beautiful landscapes, much of this verse focused on topical issues of the day. Budding poets often conversed and argued with each other through this printed medium, with views being batted back and forth over a few weeks until interest moved on to another subject. Indeed, the Mail might be considered as a sort of nineteenth century version of social media! One poet, who many decades after her death has become quite well known in Scotland for her verses in support of women’s rights, is a woman called Marion Bernstein (1846-1906). Many of Bernstein’s works first appeared in the Mail. Bernstein, who lived for most of her life in Glasgow, was fervently in favour of the female franchise: one example of her writing on this subject is entitled ‘Women’s Rights and Wrongs’. This poem, penned in 1875, was written in response to an earlier verse entitled ‘Women’s Rights Versus Women’s Wrongs’, also published in the Mail, and written by another female poet called Jessie Russell (1850-1881). As we will see, Russell opposed the female vote. Bernstein had a lower middle-class upbringing, but in her adult life, as a single woman, she struggled to make ends meet as a music teacher; Russell was orphaned at an early age and trained as a dressmaker, she later married a carpenter employed in the Glasgow shipyards and lived with her family lived on Clydeside. The examples of Russell and Bernstein demonstrate that even as early as the 1870s, when campaigning for the vote was just beginning, taking a stance on women’s suffrage was not the preserve of metropolitan, well-educated, middle and upper classes women. This was an issue of the day for a much wider segment of the female population. Bernstein and Russell were motivated to write on this subject because of broader concerns they shared about the treatment of women in Victorian Scotland. On 20th February 1875, the Mail published Russell’s poem, which complained, among other things, about men claiming the right to beat their wives. Nevertheless, she did not believe that having a vote would deal with this widespread problem. Here is a section from Jessie Russell’s poem: I may be wrong in opinion, but still to my mind it seems As if Parliament, Council, or Congress could never be womanly themes, — Touching the so-called Woman’s Rights, such discussion belongs To the tender and true in a less degree than the subject of Woman’s Wrongs. And here is part of Marion’s Bernstein’s poetic reply: Pray, in what way is wrong redressed, But by conceding right? And Woman Suffrage is the best For which our sex can fight. You’d give the lash to wifebeaters, But surely you should know, If women legislated, they’d Have had it long ago. … Why should we put out trust in men, Who oft betray out cause? Let women vote away their wrongs, And vote for righteous laws. Russell’s stance illustrates the fact that not all who were interested in justice for women believed that having the vote would be a key promoter for improving women’s rights. Nonetheless, in a further poem entitled ‘A Recantation’, published two years later in her volume of poetry (The Blinkin’ o’ the Fire and Other Poems, 1877) Russell, evidently having pondered this issue, conceded that Marion Bernstein had been right and women did deserve to have the vote. Though this type of engagement was prevalent, with men and women writing letters to the papers to express their views, attending public lectures on the subject or, —for men at least—maybe even arguing over it in the pub, those who were against giving women the vote lacked local or nationwide organisation in the way that pro-suffragists enjoyed. However, as the issue became more fiercely debated and many politicians began to listen more sympathetically, that situation changed in the first decade of the twentieth century. Who were the anti-suffrage campaigners? Hostility towards suffragists and the very idea of the woman voter was commonplace by the turn of the twentieth century—as we have seen, nobody who read a newspaper could avoid it—but it was also a topic of conversation, of debates organised by many civic groups, it existed on billboards, postcards, and even found its way into variety theatre where suffrage activists were the butt of many a cruel joke. Against this background, some female supporters of women’s suffrage felt they had to do more to make themselves visible and ensure that their views were heard, rather than being dismissed as worthy only of ridicule.