IMAGES OF POVERTY IN BRITISH SUFFRAGIST THEATRE
IMAGES OF POVERTY IN BRITISH SUFFRAGIST THEATRE

Summary/Abstract: British suffragist associations, such as the Women Writer’s Suffrage League, Actresses’ Franchise League and The Pioneer Players, produced and performed plays in support of the women’s suffrage; they were an ideal medium for disseminating suffragist propaganda and other topics related to women’s issues, like the shameful labour conditions women had to put up with and, as a consequence, their poverty. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which enabled women over the age of 30 to vote for the first time in the general elections of December 1918, and the 100th anniversary of the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918, allowing women to stand for election to the House of Commons, this paper aims to analyse the representation of working women’s poverty in several suffragist plays.

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