Abstract
We commonly assume that the first feminist demands and protests appeared in the 19th century in Great Britain. However, this feminist spirit of rebellion already existed at that time, with for instance Olympe de Gouges who wrote La Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne in 18th century France or with Mary Wollstonecraft in England who fought for gender equality and wrote A Vindication for the rights of Woman in 1792, a book that influenced the 19th century feminist movements. In the mid-19th century in Great Britain, feminist movements in search of gender equality and emancipation of women got themselves organized around the women's suffrage issue, fighting against census and exclusive male suffrage.
This huge movement is at first called the « suffragist movement » because of their fight for women's suffrage. But, in the early 20th century, a part of it, refusing inaction and peaceful persuasion of the government, separated itself from the suffragist movement in reason of their militantism and their aggressiveness: it was named the « Suffragette Movement », a pejorative phrase coined by the Daily Mail newspaper used then by the movement itself and becoming a real label without derogatory connotations.
We can therefore wonder to what extent the Suffragette Movement, by using non-peaceful methods to make its demands heard, constitutes a progress for women's condition in Great Britain but also all over the world, since it inspired feminist movements particularly in Europe and in the United States.
