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In 1889, Gabriela invited Emilia to join a new association in London: “Women´s Franchise League”, created by the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst to support the women´s right to vote. Emilia was sopposed to be a member of honour. Unfortunately, Emilia couldn´t attend the meeting due to the dead of her father.

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Emmeline Pankhurst was one of the most influential people of the XXth century. She was born in Manchester in 1858.

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British Council ELT - MYTHS & LEGENDS Emmeline Pankhurst

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She wished to create a more equal society for women and men. She wanted women to have the same rights as men: the right to an education, the right to have a good job and especially the right to vote.

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Emilia Pardo Bazán was a feminist. She defended much more than the women´s right to study and work. She strongly believed that “a woman has her own destiny, not related to the family or the man”.

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In 1888 the girls who worked in a match factory in London went on a strike. They wanted to improve their terrible working conditions. Emmeline Pankhurst supported the strike.

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She denied the intellectual inferiority of women, but also their moral superiority “by nature”.

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In 1903 she founded the Women Social and Political Union, also called the Suffragettes. They fought for women´s rights.

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She identified the crucial role of a paid job in the women´s emancipation.

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They held demonstrations and often broke the law by smashing windows or chaining themselves to fences to protest.

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She critizised the notion of “decorum” which denied the possibility of a job for the middle-class ladies. She ironically stated that “the Galician peasants harvested, dug, carried chests, broke stones and the sky didn´t fall down”.

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In 1913 a suffragette called Emily Davison was killed: she threw herself under the King´s horse at a famous horse race as a protest., because the government refused to give women the right to vote.

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She repeatedly reported the murders, violence and mistreatment against women in her articles, novels and short stories. According to her, that happened because some men considered themselves “the owners of women”.

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In 1918, the British government gave the women aged over 30 the right to vote, although men could do it with 21 years old. Women were finally allowed to vote the same age as men shortly after Emmeline died,

in 1928.

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TIMELINE: Women's Suffrage Worldwide | Encyclopaedia Britannica

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In Spain, women´s suffrage was first recognized in 1931, thanks to Clara Campoamor. But the Civil War and Franco´s dictatorship denied it again. Women couldn´t vote until June 1977.

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The story of the Suffragettes is shown in a famous historical film of 2015 titled “Suffragette”.

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Suffragette Official Trailer #1 (2015) - Carey Mulligan, Meryl Streep Drama HD

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She stated that “a country which wanted to improve and control its destiny couldn´t relegate women to house chores”.

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Emilia was in touch with many intellectuals of her time. One of them was another feminist, Gabrielle Cunninghame Graham, a Scottish woman who frequently travelled to Spain between 1880 and her death in 1906.

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21 letters were found, a correspondence between Emilia and Gabrielle, which revealed the friendship between both women. Written between 1889 and 1898, they reflected their personal, political, economic and feminist interests, as well as their longing for travelling abroad.

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Gabrielle Cunninghame Graham was born in England in 1858. She lived in Paris, where she worked as an actress. When she was 19, she married the Scottish Robert Cunninghame Graham, grandson of a Spanish lady. The couple went to live in Mexico, where she learned Spanish.

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She first visited Spain in 1878. From 1882 to 1884 they lived in “La Graña”, an abandoned convent near Vigo, “the 2 happiest years in her life”. They returned to Scotland to inherit some lands and titles.

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She defended the idea of modernizing the Spanish society by educating women and offering them a fair access to all the rights and chances that men had.

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In 1888 Gabrielle started to show interest in the life of Teresa of Ávila and she came to Spain every winter to follow the steps of the saint. She finally published a book about her, where she signed with the Spanish form of her name: Gabriela.

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Emilia Pardo Bazán and Gabriela Cunninghame became friends. Their letters revealed similar interests: writing, gaining literary aknowledgment, becoming economically independent, travelling and defending women´s rights.

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Emilia usually greeted Gabriela “My dear friend, Mrs. Chid”, a funny nickname invented by Gabriela´s husband.

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It is supposed they saw each other in a few ocassions. They first met in A Coruña in 1889, before Emilia and her family moved to spend the winter in Madrid.

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She also defended the divorce as a woman´s resource to live without knots and to accept or not marriage.