Jessie Fergusson was a Scottish

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

. She played an active role in the

rent strike A rent strike is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants come together and agree to refuse to pay their rent ''en masse'' until a specific list of demands is met by the landlord. This can ...

and was the secretary of the Glasgow branch of The Worker’s Suffrage Federation when it first was established.

Activism

Fergusson was one of the leaders behind the

in Glasgow in 1915. Before the strike,

Glasgow Women's Housing Association Glasgow Women's Housing Association (GWHA) was established in Glasgow, Scotland, in mid-1914 by the Independent Labour Party Housing Committee launched by Andrew McBride in 1913 and the Women's Labour League in reaction to the increasing rent pr ...

had been formed, which Fergusson was an active part of. The strike was efficient. It resulted in the Rent Restriction Act, which said that the rent could not be increased from the 1914 levels unless the standard of the property was increased.

References

Scottish suffragettes 20th-century Scottish women Year of birth missing Year of death missing British housing rights activists {{Feminism-activist-stub