Women's Freedom League

The Women's Freedom League was an organisation in the United Kingdom which campaigned for women's suffrage and sexual equality.

History

The group was founded in 1907 by seventy members of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) including Teresa Billington-Greig, Charlotte Despard, Elizabeth How-Martyn, and Margaret Nevinson. They disagreed with Christabel Pankhurst's announcement that the WSPU's annual conference was cancelled and that future decisions would be taken by a committee which she would appoint.

The League also opposed violence, instead using non-violent forms of protest such as non-payment of taxes, refusing to complete census forms and organising demonstrations, including members chaining themselves to objects in the Houses of Parliament. It grew to over 4,000 members and published The Vote newspaper. They continued their pacifism during World War I, supporting the Women's Peace Council. On the outbreak of war, they suspended their campaigns and undertook voluntary work, but in 1916 they restarted their lobbying activities.

In the 1918 UK general election, Despard, How-Martyn and Emily Frost Phipps stood unsuccessfully in London constituencies as independent women's rights anti-war candidates. They celebrated the achievement of suffrage and refocussed their activities on equality, including equal pay and equality of morality. The group declined in membership, but was not dissolved until 1961.

Archives

The archives of the Women's Freedom League are held at The Women's Library at the Library of the London School of Economics, ref 2WFL

See also

• Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom
• History of feminism

References

• Spartacus on the Women's Freedom League

External links

• Google News Archive of The Vote
• The Women's Library which holds extensive suffrage collections