Britian Issue 3 Essay (Women)

Question 1

What is the context and background?

Answer 1

• At the start of the 20th century, women were not treated equally to men, this means that simple things such as having the right to vote, or having a full-time job, women didn’t. Women were expected to stay home, do housework and take care of children. Women had enough of this and started to campaign for their suffrage.

Question 2

What is the factor introduction sentence?

Answer 2

• This is where some factors come into play in how some women gained the right to vote in 1918. These were: The Suffragist and Suffragette Groups, Foreign Influences and Gradual Changing Attitudes.

Question 3

What is the essay arguing?

Answer 3

• This essay will argue that the Suffragette group was the most important reason for the achievement of votes for some women in 1918.

Question 4

What is the first factor that is argued in this essay?

Answer 4

• A key factor in some women achieving the right to vote in 1918 was gradual changing attitudes towards women.

Question 5

What was one area where attitudes changed?

Answer 5

• One area where attitudes changed was education, this began with the 1880 reform in which all children received equal access to primary education – a significant improvement for female education.
• As well as this, the 1902 Education Act helped to create an explosion of girls’ grammar schools, from 99 schools in 1904 to a whopping 349 in 1914, just ten years later.

Question 6

How were education improvements important for women’s suffrage?

Answer 6

• This was important for women to achieve the vote as better education opportunities allowed women the chance to dispute the misconception that women were unable to understand complex political issues.

Question 7

What was a second area where attitudes changed?

Answer 7

• Another area where gradually changing attitudes changed was in the workplace.

Question 8

What jobs did women gain access to and what were they called?

Answer 8

• As a result of the new education opportunities, women gained access to a variety of ‘white-collar jobs,’ for example in 1910, the first-ever female banker and charted accountant were qualified.

Question 9

How were women gaining access to new jobs important to their suffrage?

Answer 9

• This was important as this showed that women could hold down responsible and demanding jobs, proving they were just as competent as men, therefore describing the right to vote.

Question 10

How were women gaining access to new jobs limited?

Answer 10

• However, the Marriage Bar was a process in which women had to leave professions when they were married, thus demonstrating that more progressive attitudes towards women were still limited, which continued to restrict women from being seen as capable voters.

Question 11

What is a second factor as to why women received the vote

Answer 11

• Another factor in how some women received the vote in 1918 was the Suffragists Group.

Question 12

What is the name of the Suffragist group, when was it created, who created it and what was it created for?

Answer 12

• The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), nicknamed the Suffragists, was founded by Millicent Fawcett in 1897, to campaign for women’s voting rights.

Question 13

What type of tactics did the Suffragists use?

Answer 13

• They used peaceful and legal tactics to get the vote and to convince politicians to support their cause.

Question 14

What was the first tactic that the Suffragists used?

Answer 14

• One of these tactics was holding meetings, which would take place in local branches of the NUWSS, (there were 400 branches by 1914), this made it effective as more branches would encourage people to come and help spread the word of their cause.

Question 15

What was the second tactic that the Suffragists used?

Answer 15

• Another tactic was lobbying MPs to convince them to introduce bills in Parliament – this worked as many sympathetic MPs supported the cause and introduced the conciliation bills of 1910, 11 and 12.

Question 16

What was the third tactic that the Suffragists used?

Answer 16

• They also allied with the Labour Party, which benefited both people.

Question 17

What were other tactics that the Suffragists used?

Answer 17

• Other tactics that were used were making petitions and publishing newspapers to help put their point across.

Question 18

Why were the Suffragists important to Women’s Suffrage?

Answer 18

• This was important to why some women achieved the vote in 1918 as it impressed many British people, including thousands of men and showed that they were intelligent, capable and trustworthy, as they were able to create a nationwide successful campaign.

Question 19

What misconception did the suffragists prove wrong?

Answer 19

• It also proved the misconception wrong that women were not hard-working enough and should not receive the vote.

Question 20

What was the limitation of the Suffragists?

Answer 20

• However, it can also be argued that even though they did gain support, the work of the Suffragists was too tedious and slow-moving, and it didn’t grab the public’s attention.

Question 21

Who ignored the Suffragists and who did they fail to gain the support of?

Answer 21

• It was easily ignored by powerful politicians, and they failed to gain the support of the current PM (Prime Minister) of the time: Herbert Asquith.

Question 22

What was Herbert Asquith’s opinion on women?

Answer 22

• Asquith had said that women were “a dim lot” and didn’t know enough about politics to be able to have the right to vote.

Question 23

What is a third factor in women’s suffrage?

Answer 23

• Another factor in how some women received the vote in 1918 is the Suffragette Group.

Question 24

Who were the Suffragettes founded by, what is its official name and when was it founded?

Answer 24

• The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) nicknamed the Suffragettes was founded by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903.

Question 25

Why did the Suffragettes form?

Answer 25

• This was because they felt the Suffragist group were not pushing the issue of women’s suffrage far enough into the public eye, due to their peaceful tactics.
• They decided to use illegal tactics, to push the issue.

Question 26

What illegal tactics did the Suffragettes use?

Answer 26

• These were as follows:
• Heckling MPs,
• Smashing windows of important buildings (10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace),
• Committing arson on Leuchars Railway Station,
• Bombing campaigns against MPs such as David Lloyd George,
• Civil Disobedience (not taking part in the 1911 census) and starting hunger strikes when sent to prison.

Question 27

What act did the Government enforce and what did it do?

Answer 27

• This caught the Government’s attention, and they enforced the Cat and Mouse Act in place.
• The Cat and Mouse Act was where women couldn’t be put in prison without being properly fed.

Question 28

How were the Suffragettes important to Women’s Suffrage?

Answer 28

• This was important to Women’s Suffrage as it showed bravery in these women for doing what they had to do to put the issue into perspective and make people aware of the cause, which in their opinion the Suffragists weren’t doing enough of.

Question 29

What were the limitations of the Suffragette group to women’s suffrage?

Answer 29

• However, the actions of the Suffragettes may have done more harm than good, as they lost a lot of respect from MPs that had previously been sympathetic towards them, and they looked irrational and crazy from the public’s perspective, as the public believed their violent tactics were too extreme.

Question 30

What did the Suffragettes prove?

Answer 30

• This also proved men’s point that women should not be trusted with the vote.

Question 31

What is the final factor in women’s suffrage?

Answer 31

• A final factor in how some women received the vote in 1918 is the examples of other countries.

Question 32

What countries ran the women’s campaigns and in what years?

Answer 32

• At the time, there were efficient campaigns led by women in other countries for female suffrage such as Finland in 1906 and New Zealand in 1893.

Question 33

How was Britain affected by not giving women the vote?

Answer 33

• Before British politicians had given out the vote in 1918, several countries in the British Empire had already given out the vote:
• This made Britain seem weak and embarrassing as they were seen as a ‘world power’ and one of the most developed nations in the world,
• and other countries were overtaking them in terms of democracy, particularly when the Government argued that WW1 was a protection for democracy in Europe.

Question 34

What is Historian Bartley’s opinion about Britain’s affectedness?

Answer 34

• Historian Bartley argues that “It would have been a particular embarrassment if the mother of democracy, Britian, ragged behind other countries.”

Question 35

What happened during the Russian Revolution in 1917?

Answer 35

• The Russian Revolution in 1917, which introduced the autocratic Tsar, who denied the population democracy, began a bloody revolution where he was eventually killed for not giving the public what they wanted.
• This sent shockwaves around the world and many developed fears of revolution.

Question 36

What scared British politicians?

Answer 36

• Furthermore, the threat of a Russian-style revolution that women could possibly start, scared British politicians and this may have influenced politicians to give women the vote to stop them from potentially going that far.

Question 37

What is the A+ for foreign influences?

Answer 37

• However, there was no concrete evidence to say that foreign influences played a part in giving some women the vote in 1918 and that it was even discussed in Parliament.
• It was likely between 1914-18, the Government were more focused on the war effort on the Western Front and at home than they were on the events going on in Russia.

Question 38

What is the first line for the conclusion?

Answer 38

• In conclusion, the militant suffragette campaign is the main reason why some women achieved the vote in 1918.

Question 39

What is the first relative rating?

Answer 39

• Although the Suffragists did build a base for Women’s Suffrage to be publicised, they didn’t do enough with their peaceful persuasion.
• Unlike the Suffragettes with their more violent tactics which grabbed the public’s attention and achieved their goal of pushing the issue of Women’s Suffrage,
• This makes the Suffragette group the main reason why some women achieved the vote.

Question 40

What is the second relative rating?

Answer 40

• In addition, gradually changing attitudes were also important to an extent as it showed men were starting to be able to trust women to be able to hold positions.
• However, it was still limited due to the Marriage Bar being in place, so women would still have to leave their jobs, letting men restrict them.
• Unlike the Suffragettes, which did not let men restrict their abilities, did more for the cause of Women’s Suffrage, let the public know that they shouldn’t be restricted or silenced by men and that their issue is important, making the Suffragettes more important.

Question 41

What is the last relative rating?

Answer 41

• Although the influence of other countries did potentially pressure Britain with the fear of revolution from women, and for looking bad to other countries, there is no real evidence that this was discussed in government at the time.
• However, the Suffragette group was confirmed to be discussed in Parliament as they introduced the Cat and Mouse Act, as a result of the Suffragette hunger strikes within the prison which makes the Suffragettes more important as it was talked about within the government.

Question 42

What is the overall mini-conclusion?

Answer 42

• Overall, the militant suffragette campaign is the most important reason why some women received the vote in 1918, as they were able to grab enough attention with their violent actions, + although there were negative opinions on the group, you cannot ignore that they gave lots of influence on the cause, which the Suffragists couldn’t do.

Question 43

How were Politicans reassured?

Answer 43

• Politicians may have also been reassured by countries such as New Zealand, Norway or Finland that had already granted the vote that it was a good thing and that no repercussions happened from it.