Date of Award
2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Social Sciences
First Advisor
Shi, Xia
Area of Concentration
History
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to examine how public opinion affected the Irish Women’s Suffrage Movement between 1912-1914. Previous scholarship on this time period focuses more on individual suffragette contributions than on the overall movement. This thesis delves deeper by examining how suffragette actions, police reactions, and public views of both intersect to create a pro-suffragette public opinion and an increasingly successful movement. The thesis explores a cause and effect relationship between the suffragettes, police, and the public that focuses on suffragette hunger strikes. The hunger strikes necessitate a reaction from the police, who respond harshly. The public, horrified by these responses, protest against the authorities, which eventually earns successes, such as prison privileges and early release, for the suffragettes. The thesis concludes with the assumption that public opinion, not just the suffragettes themselves, helped the Women’s Suffrage Movement gain ground in Ireland.
Recommended Citation
Hodge, Angela, "THE POWER OF PUBLIC OPINION: HUNGER STRIKES AND THE IRISH WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT (1912-1914)" (2017). Theses & ETDs. 5368.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/5368