Reasons for Women Getting the Vote

Question 1

Give a short intro into what happened prior to women getting the vote in 1918

Answer 1

• in 1918 women over the age of 30 or women who owned property were given the right to vote for parliament by the Representation of the People’s Act
• this was a major step in getting equal franchise for women

Question 2

What factors contributed to women getting the vote?

Answer 2

• examples of foreign countries
• changing attitudes towards women
• suffragists campaigns
• suffragettes campaigns
• role of women in the Great War

Question 3

How did the examples of foreign countries contribute to women getting the vote?

Answer 3

• many foreign nations which were part of the British Empire had granted women the vote
• New Zealand granted it in 1893
• Australia in 1902
• In all these countries after the vote was granted, no disasters occurred and the political systems remained stable

Question 4

Why was the example of foreign countries an important factor?

Answer 4

• It gave women in Britain the motivation and determination to carry on campaigning for women’s suffrage
• also important since Britain had the reputation of having ‘the mother of all parliaments’ many politicians were influenced by this to want to grant women the vote
• not as important as the suffragist or suffragettes campaigns as they put long term and short term pressure on politicians to grant women the vote

Question 5

How did the Suffragist campaign contribute to women getting the vote?

Answer 5

• the NUWSS or the Suffragists were a group of women led by Milicent Fawcett who believed in using peaceful moderate tactics, like handing out leaflets and organising petitions, to convince politicians to grant women the vote.
• they were successful in gaining publicity but not enough for headline news

Question 6

Why was the Suffragist campaign an important factor?

Answer 6

• it was due to the NUWSS campaigning that from 1910-12 there were arguments and debates for and against giving women limited votes in parliament
• more important than the Suffragette campaign as the violent tactics used by the Suffragettes alienated some MPs whereas the peaceful tactics of the Suffragists resulted in some MPs support

Question 7

How did the Suffragette campaign contribute to women getting the vote?

Answer 7

• the WSPU or the Suffragettes were a group of women led by Emmeline Pankhurst who broke away from the NUWSS and believed that direct action needed to be taken in order to receive attention from the government to get votes for women
• their violent tactics involved chaining themselves to railings, setting post boxes on fire and vandalising art. This resulted in a lot of bad publicity as MPs did not believe in supporting this ‘terrorist’ campaign and many of their actions landed them in jail where they would go on hunger strike which led to the passing of an act commonly known as the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’ which allowed sick prisoners to be released until they were well enough to return to resume their sentence

Question 8

Why was the Suffragette campaign an important factor?

Answer 8

-many members of the WSPU did not agree with the violent attacks and so moved back to the NUWSS which increased the number of Suffragists

Question 9

How did the changing attitudes towards women contribute to women getting the vote?

Answer 9

• laws were being passed which allowed women to divorce their husband, live without their husbands and own their own money
• Between 1870-1894 women were given the right to vote and stand for council elections
• women were now going to college and getting degrees and becoming successful in jobs such as teaching, law and medicine

Question 10

Why were the changing attitude towards women an important factor?

Answer 10

• showed the government that women were just as intellectually capable as men were making it increasingly difficult for the government to say no to granting women the vote
• more important that foreign countries examples as it changed people’s attitude towards women over a long period of time and showed that women deserved the same equality as men

Question 11

How did the role of women in the Great War contribute to women getting the vote?

Answer 11

• during the war women took on many roles which before were dominated by men who were now fighting in the war
• women worked in factories, drove trains, and produced ammunition
• the Suffragist and Suffragette campaigns stopped for the duration of the war, this showed women’s loyalty to Britain

Question 12

Why was the role of women in the Great War an important factor?

Answer 12

• women gained a lot of respect from men by stepping into these roles and their efforts received praise from politicians which all changed the way that women were percieved
• not as important as the Suffragist and Suffragette campaigns as although it acted as a catalyst and sped up the process of women getting the vote, it was the pressure from the suffrage campaigns that made the biggest impact

Question 13

What was the most important factor and why?

Answer 13

• the Suffragist campaign

- caused long term pressure on MPs to grant women votes and was done legally in a way that did not make MPs turn on them