Suffragette is a 2015 British historical drama film about women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, directed by Sarah Gavron and written by Abi Morgan.

The film stars Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Anne-Marie Duff, Ben Whishaw, and Meryl Streep.

She tells her husband Sonny that she will stay away from the suffragettes, but attends a secret rally to hear Pankhurst speak.

When her picture is published as a known suffragette she is sacked and, past breaking point, she burns the hand of her male supervisor, who has been sexually abusing girls in the laundry for years, including Maud when she was younger, and Maggie, Violet's daughter.

Before they go, Emily Davison hands Maud a copy of Dreams (1890), a book by Olive Schreiner that has been passed from one suffragette to another.

While the race is underway, Emily runs onto the track, stepping in front of the King's horse, and Maud witnesses her being trampled to death.

After returning to London, Maud retrieves Violet's daughter from the laundry, and takes her to the home of Alice Haughton, who agrees that Maggie can work there instead.

However, on 17 March 2015, Focus Features took over the North American distribution rights, also acquiring rights for Latin America, India, South Korea and most of Eastern Europe including Russia, with producer Ryan Kavanaugh dropping out as producer following the bankruptcy of Relativity.

Mulligan, Streep, Garai and Duff appeared in a promotional photograph wearing T-shirts emblazoned with a Pankhurst quotation used in the film: "I'd rather be a rebel than a slave".

This quickly led to a media furore, with critics describing the magazine's choice of slogan "unfortunate",[16] "tone-deaf",[17] and "racist".

[18] Scholar Ana Stevenson noted that while from a historical perspective the usage of the Pankhurst quotation in the film was accurate, "Meryl Streep, Carey Mulligan, Romola Garai and Anne-Marie Duff are rich, privileged, white women who are celebrity movie stars – certainly not slaves"; Stevenson further argued that there is "a perversity in claiming otherwise when racial discrimination and domestic violence remain very present concerns".

[19] The feminist group Sisters Uncut demonstrated at the London premiere against government cuts to domestic violence services.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Suffragette dramatizes an important – and still painfully relevant – fact-based story with more than enough craft and sincerity to overcome its flaws.