A poor woman in London breaks the law — and loses her job, her home and her son — because women could not vote. Most of it really happened.
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These are the new words. Match each word (1–8) to its meaning (A–H). Say your answers out loud — "I think 1 is D" — then check.
1 = C (to vote) · 2 = H (a law) · 3 = A (prison) · 4 = E (a protest)
5 = F (brave) · 6 = B (equal) · 7 = D (a laundry) · 8 = G (to fight for something)
Sarah Gavron's Suffragette (2015). Read each part. Then try the questions from memory, and talk about the last one. (There are spoilers — that is fine, we want to talk about it.)
London, 1912. Maud Watts is twenty-four years old. She works in a laundry in the east of London, and she has worked there since she was a child. The work is hot and hard. Her husband Sonny works there too, and they have a little son, George. Maud is not interested in politics.
In this time, women in Britain could not vote. Many women thought this was unfair, and they started a big campaign. Some of them broke windows and made a lot of noise, because nobody listened to their letters.
One day Maud is walking in the street with a parcel. Suddenly she sees a protest: women are throwing stones at shop windows. One of the women is Violet, from her laundry! Later, the government asks some working women to come and speak to a group of politicians. Violet must speak — but her husband hits her, and she cannot go. So Maud speaks instead. She talks about her own life. But then the government says no: women will not get the vote. Outside, the police attack the women, and Maud goes to prison for a week.
1. Where does Maud work, and how does she first see the protest?
2. Why does Maud speak to the politicians, and what happens after?
1. She works in a laundry in east London. She is walking in the street with a parcel and sees women breaking shop windows.
2. Violet cannot speak because her husband hit her, so Maud speaks about her own life. Then the government says no, the police attack the women, and Maud goes to prison.
After prison, life is very hard. The neighbours do not speak to Maud. She loses her job at the laundry. Her husband is angry and afraid, and he does not want her in the house. He locks the door.
Then something terrible happens. At that time, the law said that a father — not a mother — decided everything about the children. So Sonny gives their son George to another family. Maud can say goodbye only one time. She says her name to the little boy again and again, because she wants him to remember her.
Maud has nothing left now, so she becomes braver and more dangerous. A police officer, Inspector Steed, wants her to give him information about the other women. She says no. She goes to prison again, and this time she goes on hunger strike. The film shows what the government did to women who stopped eating: they held them down and forced food into them. It is short, but it is very hard to watch.
1. What three things does Maud lose after prison?
2. What does Inspector Steed want Maud to do?
1. Her job, her home and her son. Her husband locks her out and gives George to another family, because the law let fathers decide.
2. He wants her to give him information about the other women. She refuses.
The women want the whole country to see them. So they choose a very big day: a famous horse race at Epsom, in June 1913. The King is there, and his horse is running. The plan is simple — hold up a flag in front of the cameras.
But there are too many people. In the end only two women get to the front: Maud, and a woman called Emily Davison. Emily has been in prison many times. She says something quietly to Maud. Then she walks under the fence and out onto the race track, in front of the King's horse.
The horse hits her. She never wakes up, and she dies four days later. Her funeral becomes an enormous protest: thousands of women walk through London behind her coffin, and everybody looks. The last pictures in the film are not actors — they are the real film from 1913. Then words on the screen tell us the year when women got the vote in different countries.
1. Why do the women go to the horse race?
2. What happens to Emily Davison?
1. Because the King is there with the cameras, and they want everyone to see their flag.
2. She walks onto the race track in front of the King's horse. The horse hits her and she dies four days later. Her funeral becomes a huge protest.
This film is full of people who want other people to do things. The husband wants his wife to stop. The police want the women to go home. The women want the government to change the law. English has one clear pattern for all of this.
Complete each sentence. Say it out loud first.
1. Sonny wanted Maud (leave) the campaign.
2. The women wanted Parliament (change) the law.
3. I'd like you (tell) me the truth.
4. The police didn't want the newspapers (see) it.
1. to leave 2. to change 3. to tell 4. to see
Always: want / would like + person + to + verb.
Write the correct object pronoun (me, you, him, her, us, them).
1. Maud says her name again and again. She wants (George) to remember her.
2. My parents want (I) to study medicine.
3. The teacher would like (the students) to arrive early.
4. Violet was hurt. The other women wanted (Violet) to stay at home.
1. him 2. me 3. them 4. her
Never "I", "he", "she" or "they" after want.
Fill each gap. Then read the whole text aloud.
Maud did not want (she) life to be like her mother's. The government wanted the women (go) home quietly. But the women wanted the country (see) them. "I'd like you (remember) my name," Maud says to her little son.
her · to go · to see · to remember
The pattern never changes: want / would like + person + to + verb.
Most of this really happened. But there is one big question the film does not answer: did all this fighting help the women, or did it make things slower? People still argue about it today.
Maud Watts is not a real person. The writer made her from the true stories of many poor working women. Violet and Inspector Steed are also invented. But Emmeline Pankhurst was real: she started the militant group, the WSPU, in Manchester on 10 October 1903, and their motto was "Deeds not words". Emily Davison was real too. And one thing about the film is a real first: it was the first feature film allowed to film inside the Houses of Parliament.
Not all the women agreed. One large group, led by Millicent Fawcett, always stayed inside the law: letters, meetings and petitions, for many years. The other group, Pankhurst's women, broke windows and started fires. In only six months of 1913 there were about 250 attacks on buildings. The women chose empty buildings, because they did not want to kill anybody.
In prison, the women went on hunger strike. The government forced food into them, and people were shocked. So in 1913 the government made a new law: let a hungry woman go home, wait until she is strong, then arrest her again. People called it the "Cat and Mouse Act", because a cat plays with a mouse before it kills it. Many people thought this was cruel, and they started to feel sorry for the women.
Emily Davison really died after the King's horse hit her at Epsom on 4 June 1913. But did she want to die? We do not know. She had two flags in her jacket, a ticket for a party that evening, and a train ticket home. In 2013, scientists studied the old film very carefully, and they think she was trying to put a flag on the horse — not to kill herself.
Women in Britain got the vote in 1918 — but only women over 30 with a house or land. That is very important: a poor young woman like Maud still could not vote. Women got the same rights as men only in 1928. And here is the hard question: the fighting stopped in 1914, when the war started, and the vote came four years later. Some people say the fighting won the vote. Other people say it made the politicians angry and slower. Both sides have good arguments.
Do all three tasks out loud. Use the timer to keep talking.
Tell the story of Suffragette in your own words. Use these steps to help you: a hard job in a laundry → she sees a protest in the street → she speaks to the politicians, and they say no → prison, and she loses her job, her home and her son → the horse race, and the funeral.
Try to use five key words (vote, law, prison, protest, brave, equal, laundry, fight for, unfair, hunger strike) and want / would like someone to do something: "Her husband wanted her to stop."
Maud breaks the law, and she loses her son. The women say there is no other way. Was this right or wrong? Say what you think and why. What would you do?
Talk about changes you want. Use want and would like with people.
Not sure what to say? Choose one: