Sister Suffragette

Well done!

Dec 05, 2023

Hi all,

Thank you for joining me for today’s song, “Sister Suffragette”, from the film, Mary Poppins.

Comments and questions are welcome. If you’d like to hear the song before you read the background, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article.

Synonyms/definitions of the words in bold are provided below. If you have the Substack app on your phone, you can LISTEN to the article as you read.

Available for iOS and Android

Background

(151 words)

In the early 1900s, suffragettes were women in the US and UK who were working to achieve women’s suffrage (the right for women to vote). On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, women had dreams for the future: better education for everyone, a more equal society, equal pay for doing the same labor, healthcare and birth control, even fewer hours of work time per week for all. The suffragette movement wasn’t limited to English-speaking countries. Women in Japan and the Philippines were also demanding the right to vote.

Japanese suffragists, Morita (possibly 1927)

Emmeline Pankhurst was one of the organizers of the suffrage movement in the UK. Her three daughters, Christabel, Sylvia, and Adela, were also dauntless (never afraid and never gave up). Both Emmeline and her daughters, and many other supporters of the cause, were arrested time and again for disturbing the government. In prison, they went on a hunger strike and refused to eat.

Petticoat Worn to 1904 World's Fair. Photo by Cora Friedrich

The Song

(258 words)

We’re clearly soldiers in petticoats

And dauntless crusaders for women’s votes

Though we adore men individually

We agree that as a group they’re rather stupid

Cast off the shackles of yesterday: shackles are like handcuffs, used to tie together a prisoner’s wrists or ankles. Here, the singer is encouraging women to let go of the social rules that kept women down and to work together - Shoulder to shoulder - even if the work is sometimes dangerous (into the fray).

Our daughters’ daughters will adore us

And they’ll sing in grateful chorus - in other words, their daughters will appreciate the hard work their mothers did to achieve the right to vote, and they will say, Well done, Sister Suffragette!

From Kensington to Billingsgate (a large area of London) one hears the restless cries

From every corner of the land...womankind arise!

Political equality

And equal rights with men

Take heart, for Mrs. Pankhurst has been clapped in irons again! Here, she is telling women to be encouraged (take heart) because Mrs. Pankhurst has been arrested again (clapped in irons).

No more the meek and mild subservients we - in other words, they refused to remain gentle, quiet (meek) and obedient (subservient).

Some of the members of the women’s suffrage movement believed that without serious actions to get men’s attention to their cause, they would not make progress. They chained themselves to government buildings, broke windows and sometimes turned to arson (setting fires on purpose).

We’re fighting for our rights militantly

Never you fear!

…

Well done, Sister Suffragette!

Question

Do women have the right to vote in your country? How did they gain that right?

Sister Suffragette

Well done!

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