suffragette

/ˈsʌfrəˌdʒɛt/

/ˈsʌfrəgɪt/

Other forms: suffragettes

A suffragette was a woman who advocated for women's right to vote during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Suffragettes — also called suffragists — used various tactics, including hunger strikes, in their fight for equality.

While the term suffragist includes all the activists who have fought for the right to vote, particularly for women, suffragette usually refers specifically to the activists in the US and UK. The word was coined by a "Daily Mail" journalist, who used it in a derogatory way, only to have it embraced by the activists. The tactics of the suffragettes were controversial, and sometimes included arson and property damage. American and British women gained the right to vote in the early 1900s.

Definitions of suffragette

1. noun

   a woman advocate of women's right to vote (especially a militant advocate in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the 20th century)
   type of:

   feminist, libber, women's liberationist, women's rightist

   a supporter of feminism

   suffragist

   an advocate of the extension of voting rights (especially to women)