Getting the Vote

Question 1

What did women do during the war?

Answer 1

1) Did men’s jobs for them
2) Worked as conductors, drivers, postal workers, labourers, and coal deliverers
3) Worked in munitions factories and engineering workshops
4) Joined women’s branches of the armed forces to work as nurses in military hospitals
5) They halted their protests and campaigns!!

Question 2

What impression did this give towards women?

Answer 2

Proved they were important to public life as well as home life. There was gratitude towards women for their work

Question 3

What 3 other reasons were women given the vote for?

Answer 3

1) There was a shake up n the system anyway: there was a rule that you had to be living at an address for 1 year to vote, so soldiers abroad would be excluded. This was changed, so it was seen as a good opportunity to add women in here too.
2) It was now seen as unfair that women were denied some political rights, and it would be unjust to not thank the women who had worked hard through the war
3) People didn’t want protests to start again

Question 4

Who eventually got the vote?

Answer 4

• Representation of the People Act 1918
• Women had to be: married to a householder or over 30 and a householder
• The same act gave all men over 21 the vote