Women and the Vote

Question 1

Who was the leader of the WSPU?

Answer 1

Emmeline Pankhurst

Question 2

Who was the leader of the NUWSS?

Answer 2

Millicent Fawcett

Question 3

What does WSPU stand for?

Answer 3

Women’s Social and Political Union

Question 4

What does NUWSS stand for?

Answer 4

National Union of Women’s Suffrage Society

Question 5

When was the WSPU founded?

Answer 5

1903

Question 6

How did suffragists protest? Give examples

Answer 6

Peacefully e.g. marches, petitions, pilgrimage from Carlisle to London, meetings

Question 7

How did suffragettes protest? Give examples

Answer 7

Violent and peacefully protest, although most famous for their militant protests e.g. heckling at meetings, arson attacks, smashing windows, going on hunger strike in prison.

Question 8

For what is Emily Wilding Davison most famous?

Answer 8

She was killed as a result of being knocked down by the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby on 4th June 1913. Evidence suggests she deliberately ducked under the railings and stood on the racecourse in front of the horses, as a protest for Women’s Suffrage. She died on 8th June, in hospital, without regaining consciousness. She was a committed militant suffragette who had been in prison, and on hunger-strike several times.

Question 9

What was the motto of the WSPU?

Answer 9

Deeds not Words

Question 10

What were the suffragette colours and what did they stand for?

Answer 10

Green, White and Violet - Give Women the Vote

Question 11

Which women were given the vote in 1918?

Answer 11

Women over 30.

Question 12

Why were women given the vote in 1918?

Answer 12

a) A franchise bill was already being put through Parliament to give the vote back to British soldiers, so it was convenient
b) As a reward for women’s war work in World War 1
c) Fear that the suffragettes would renew their campaign once the war was over

Question 13

What jobs did women do in World War One?

Answer 13

Worked in many different jobs and industries and as volunteers eg. munitions (munitionettes), engineering, land army, nurses, VADs, transport, grave-diggers. Female sections in the armed forces were also established.

Question 14

When did women in Britain gain the same voting rights as men?

Answer 14

1928

Question 15

Who was Britain’s first female Prime Minister?

Answer 15

Margaret Thatcher

Question 16

What was the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’?

Answer 16

Government’s way of dealing with hunger-striking suffragettes. It allowed them to temporarily release hunger-strikers to avoid them dying in prison and becoming ‘martyrs to the cause’. Once fit, they would be returned to prison to complete their sentence.

Question 17

Why did Millicent Fawcett say her movement was ‘like a glacier’?

Answer 17

Because it was slow-moving but powerful and unstoppable, and so would eventually succeed in winning the vote for women.

Question 18

Why did Queen Victoria oppose Women’s Suffrage?

Answer 18

She believed politics to be unsuitable and unnatural for women.

Question 19

How did women’s lives change during World War One?

Answer 19

Many, especially young, unmarried women, gained more freedom. A greater range of jobs and consequently greater independence was made available. By the end of the war women were wearing shorter skirts and make-up, and going out with young men without chaperones. In 1918, women over 30 gained the right to vote.

Question 20

In what ways were women’s freedoms limited in World War One?

Answer 20

Wages - they were not paid the same as men for doing the same work. Many trade unions were hostile to women because they feared it would mean that men would lose work. When men returned from war, women lost their jobs.