GET IT, GIRL

Like coming between a bear and her cubs, coming between a girl and her goals is a recipe for fucking disaster. If a woman’s mind is set on something, whether it’s the pursuit of a career goal or much-needed carbohydrates, it’s fucking on. And in recent times, I can’t think of a goal-driven woman who brought it harder than Emmeline Pankhurst, a revolutionary leader of the British women’s suffrage movement.

Following the death of her husband in 1898, Emmeline was left a single mother of five. Her husband had always been her strongest supporter, but now, without him, she was forced to pursue her dream of equal voting rights for British women on her own. So in 1903 she formed the Women’s Social and Political Union.

Now, one important thing to note about Emmeline: She wasn’t about clever rhymes and picket signs. She was a woman of action who lived by the motto “Deeds, not words.” What kind of deeds exactly? Well, in 1912, Emmeline was arrested twelve times for arson, vandalism, and other hoodrat things she did to bring attention to her fight. TWELVE FUCKING TIMES—in ONE year. Your favorite rappers don’t have shit on Emmeline’s level of street cred. With her background, she could have easily dropped a mixtape if she so chose. Something like Guilty of Being a G would have been an appropriate title.

I mean, talk about a woman who literally did not give a fuck. Not even one. In a court appearance following one of her arrests, she said, “We are here not because we are lawbreakers; we are here in our efforts to become lawmakers.” You see what I’m saying about never getting in the way of a determined woman and her goals? No matter what, she never lost sight of her goal. All she wanted was equal voting rights, and she fought for that goal until the day she died: June 14, 1928, at the age of sixty-nine. (Ha, classic. Sixty-nine—even her death age was rebellious.) And just weeks after her death, the Equal Franchise Act was passed, allowing all British women over twenty-one to vote, regardless of property and marital status.

So the next time you and your friends can’t decide on where to eat, TAKE A VOTE. If you’re not happy with the outcome, do what Emmeline would do and set something on fire.