Votes For Women Flashcards
What is important about the great war in terms of women receiving the vote in 1918?
Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914 and two days later the NUWSS suspended it’s political campaigning for the vote. Undoubtedly the sight of women doing their bit for the war effort gained respect and balanced the negative publicity of the earlier Suffragette campaign. A WSPU pro-war propaganda campaign encouraged men to join the armed forces, and women to demand the right to serve.
Women’s war work was important to Britain’s eventual victory. Over 700000 women were employed in munitions.
The creating of a wartime coalition also opened the door to change.
The traditional explanation for the granting of the vote to some women in 1918 had been that women’s valuable work for the war effort radically changed male ideas about their role in society and that the vote in 1918 was almost a thank you for their efforts. But the women who were given the vote were respectable ladies, 30 or over, not the younger women who worked long hours and risked their lives in munitions factories.
Another argument about the 1918 act is that it only happened because politicians grew anxious to enfranchise more men who had fought in the war but lost their residency qualification to vote and women could be added on to legislation already in progress.
The war acted more as a catalyst, but the tide was flowing towards female suffrage before it started.
How is changing attitudes towards women as a reason why women gained the votes in 1918?
The campaigns for women’s suffrage can be seen within the context of changing attitudes within society towards women in the late 19th and early 20th century. The historian Martin Pugh stated that their participation in local government made women’s exclusion from the national elections increasingly untenable. Millicent Fawcett argued that wider social changes were vital factors in the winning of the franchise.
Women became increasingly active in public affairs- town councils, Boards of Guardians, members of political organisations.
Educational opportunities slowly opened up to women: university, medical schools, etc.
Professionals opened up to women: law, medicine.
Legal developments giving women rights over property: 1882 Married Women’s Property Act, etc.
The NUWSS had what effect on women gaining the vote in 1918?
The NUWSS believed in moderate, peaceful tactics to win the vote, such as meetings, pamphlets, petitions and parliamentary bills. Membership remained relatively low at about 6000 until around 1909 but grew to 53000 by 1914 as women angered by the Suffragettes campaign found a new home.
The WSPU- Suffragettes had what affect in gaining women the vote in 1918?
Emmeline Pankhurst formed the Women’s Social and Political union, (WSPU) in 1903. WSPU adopted the motto, deeds not words. The new strategy gained publicity with noisy heckling of politicians. Newspapers immediately took notice. The suffragettes had achieved their first objective- publicity. Violent protests followed eg window smashing campaign and prisons filled with suffragettes
Women used starvation as a political weapon to embarrass the government. In response the government introduced the prisoners temporary discharge for ill health act- cat and mouse act.
The actions of the suffragettes mobilised opinion for and against. It can be argued that were it not for the suffragettes campaign, the liberal Government would not even have discussed the women’s suffrage before world war one. But for opponents the militant campaign provided and excellent example of why women could not be trusted with the vote.
How did examples of other countries affect women getting the vote in 1918?
By 1913 many states in the USA, Scandinavia, Finland and countries form the empire such as New Zealand had given women the vote. This had not caused the disasters that had been predicted. In fact, most countries believed giving women the vote had helped them.
