I want to say to you who think women cannot succeed, we have brought the government of England to this position, that it has to face this alternative: either women are to be killed or women are to have the vote.
Emmeline PankhurstRead
The whole argument with the anti-suffragists, or even the critical suffragist man, is this: that you can govern human beings without their consent.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of consent in governance, challenging the notion of controlling others without their agreement.
Emmeline Pankhurst's quote critiques the belief held by anti-suffragists and critical suffragist men that humans can be governed against their will. It argues for the necessity of consent in leadership and governance, suggesting that true authority and ethics in leadership is rooted in the acknowledgment of individual rights and voices.
Themes
ConsentGovernanceSuffrageRightsAuthority
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech advocating for democratic reforms, this quote can underscore the need for citizen participation.
More from Emmeline Pankhurst
All quotes βSolitary confinement is too terrible a punishment to inflict on any human being, no matter what his crime. Hardened criminals in the men's prisons, it is said, often beg for the lash instead.
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Justice and judgment lie often a world apart.
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Governments have always tried to crush reform movements, to destroy ideas, to kill the thing that cannot die. Without regard to history, which shows that no Government have ever succeeded in doing this, they go on trying in the old, senseless way.
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You must make women count as much as men; you must have an equal standard of morals; and the only way to enforce that is through giving women political power so that you can get that equal moral standard registered in the laws of the country. It is the only way.
Emmeline PankhurstRead
You have to make more noise than anybody else, you have to make yourself more obtrusive than anybody else, you have to fill all the papers more than anybody else, in fact you have to be there all the time and see that they do not snow you under.
Emmeline PankhurstRead
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