Gude Cause
Celebrating women's achievements since the Edinburgh Women’s Suffrage Procession and Demonstration in 1909
Gude Cause was the name of a feminist project, based at the Peace and Justice Centre in Edinburgh, which inspired over 60 events and projects throughout Scotland between 2007 and 2009. The name was inspired by a banner from the 1909 procession which read A Gude Cause Maks a Strong Arm.
The organisers aimed to commemorate the work of Scotswomen involved in the suffrage movement, to celebrate women's achievements in the 100 years since the Women's Suffrage Procession which had taken place in Edinburgh in 1909, and to re-energise women's commitment to political representation and action in Scotland.
Co-ordinator Helen Kay worked alongside Lesley Orr, Janet Fenton, and Sheila Gilmore to organise the Gude Cause Procession in 2009. Other members of the committee with various roles relating to administration, organisation and other activities were Nancy Somerville, Fiona Skillen, Jo Robson, Sara-Jane Rice, Susan Moffat, Agnes Holmes, Jillian Davey, Joan Bree and Marylou Anderson.
Activities included workshops and projects in quilt and banner making, singing, creating a play and filmmaking, all leading up to the day of the procession which followed as near as possible to the original route. Gude Cause created a partnership with over 100 organisations across Scotland which provided financial and practical support and generated a great deal of interest in women's history and political action, with schools participating by providing opportunities to learn about the history of Women’s Suffrage.
Fiona Hyslop who participated in the procession said that The city saw the first suffragette to be force-fed in a Scottish prison, Ethel Moorhead, imprisoned in Calton Jail...I think she would have found it hard to believe that one day the offices of the Scottish Government would stand on that very spot, a government not only elected by women voters, but including women ministers.
After the procession the New Media Group (renamed Gude Cause Project) was set up to produce material and identify links to sources of information, forming a digital means of sourcing archive material about the activities leading up to the procession and the procession itself.
Margaret Ferguson Burns
Sources:
Orr, Lesley and Kay, Helen and Skillen, Fiona. A Gude Cause: Celebrating the Women’s Movement in Scotland. In Humanitie. Winter 2009 www.humanism-scotland.org.uk
Suffragette march marks centenary : BBC News Channel 10 October 2009 news.bbc.co.uk
O’Hanlon, Paul. Gude Cause Anniversary March in Edinburgh. In Indymedia UK www.indymedia.org.uk (link not working)
Gude Cause 1909 and 2009: Gude_Cause_1909_and_2009
Gude Cause Project Facebook page: GudeCauseProject
