The White Feather Campaign was a prominent enlistment campaign and shaming ritual in Britain during the First World War, in which women gave white feathers to non-enlisting men, symbolising cowardice and shaming them into signing up. The white feather campaign is noted for the role of many prominent early feminists and suffragettes in starting it, such as Emmeline Pankhurst, and Emma Orczy.[1]
Although the campaign was unpopular among the public, often causing mental suffering and suicides among men, it was seen as a success by the government, and the Pankhurst sisters as well as the Women's Social and Political Union received recognition from the government for their contributions. The campaign is also interpreted as one of the reasons behind the passing of the Representation of the People Act, which first granted franchise to land-owning women.
- ^ Benvindo, Bruno (2004-11-01). "Joshua S. GOLDSTEIN, War and Gender. How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2001, 523 p." Clio (20): 271–273. doi:10.4000/clio.1423. ISSN 1252-7017.