Women And The Vote Flashcards
What acts from the 1850’s made the lives of women better?
1857- The Matrimonial Clauses Act- Made it easier for a woman to get divorced through ordinary law courts. Yet you had to prove your husband commited adultery or another offence like cruelty or desertion. Before the act only parliament could grant divorced
1870- The Married Womens Property Act- gave women the right to keep their earnings when they got married. Before all women had were given to their husbands
1886- The Married Women Act- said that a husband who left his wife had to keep paying for her maintenance
The Gaurdianship if Children Act- allowed women to be their childrens legal guardians if the father died or if the marriage broke up
What few professions were originally open to women in the 1800’s?
- Many working class women had jobs aswell as running the home
- Many tended to work in the textile industry, these jobs were low paid and had poor working conditions
- Middle-class women were less likely to work outside the home. Access to higher education and professional jobs was limited
- Queens college in London was opened up to train women as teachers in 1948
- Florence Nightingale established nursing as a respectable job. She set up a training school where women could train to be nurses
Why did people think women shouldn’t have the vote?
1) They thought the public sphere was for men, and that women should stay home
2) Many believed that women were not rational and couldn’t make big decisions
3) Many politicians believed that men needed to be householders in order to get the vote. Only few rich women owned a house or paid the rent, so it would be odd to give them the vote.
4) If only rich women got the vote then they’d probably vote conservative, which the Liberals didn’t like.
What did campaigners for the women’s vote argue?
1) Women’s rights and opportunities where already improving- the vote was a natural step forward
2) Women were just as capable as men when making decisions
3) Women had gained the vote in other countries
Who were the Suffragists and what were their strategies?
1) Their formal name was the NUWSS
2) They were founded in 1897, their leader was Millicent Fawcett
3) Their main tactics were persuasion, meetings and petitions to parliament.
Who were the Suffragettes and what were their strategies?
1) Their formal name was the WSPU
2) They were founded by Emmeline Pankurst in 1903, with her daughters Cristobel and Sylvia. She had previously campaigned to get women the vote in local elections.
3) They thought the suffragists were taking things too slowly. They wanted results fast
4) They didn’t mind getting arrested, which attracted some sympathy and showed they were serious. In 1905 Cristobel was sent to prison for a week for heckling Sir Edward Grey who was speaking in a meeting in Manchester
5) They hoped the Liberal government would be sympathetic after 1906. They were encouraged by the 1907 Qualification of Women Act. Which led to women becoming county and borough councillors or mayors. However in 1908 Asquith, a Liberal, became Prime Minister and was against Women’s votes.
How did protests by the Suffragettes get more serious in 1912?
The suffragettes were furious due to the Parliament’s speaker to refuse a meeting about their Plural Voting Bill.
1) They chained themselves to railings outside Buckingham Palace and Downing Street
2) They physically assaulted politicians
3) They destoryed paintings in the National Gallery and smashed shop windows
4) They made arson attacks on post boxes, churches and railway stations. In 1913 they bombed the house of Lloyd George, who was fairly sympathetic towards womens votes.
5) At the 1913 Derby at Epsom a suffragette called Emily Davison threw herself under the kings horse and died.
6) Suffragists thought these tactics held the campaign back, as the government couldn’t be seen giving into violence, it also put off moderate supporters.
How did the Government deal with protests?
1) They sent Suffragettes to prison. They often went on hunger strike, in which authorities had to force feed them. This was dangerous and violent.
2) The so called “Cat and Mouse” Act was passed in 1913. Under this act authorities could release hunger-strikers and re-arrest them when they were fit again
During the war what did women do to contribute to the war effort?
1) Whilst many men were fighting there weren’t enough to do vital jobs- so they were opened up to women, and they were happy to take them as they could prove they could do them as well as men
2) Women worked as: bus conductors, drivers, postal workers, farm labourers and coal deliverers
3) They also worked in munitions factories and engineering workshops. This work was technical and directly related to the war effort
4) Women joined women’s branches of the armed forces, and worked as nurser in military and hospitals.
What were other reasons for giving the women the vote?
1) A shake-up of the voting system was already happening. There was a rule that a man could only vote after living at one address for 1 year, this needed to be changed for soldiers away from home. If the system was to be changed anyway it was a chance to include women
2) People’s attitudes towards women had changed- not just because of the war. A lot of people remembered the suffragettes protests and thought it was unfair that women had been denied political rights
3) The suffragettes called off their campaign at the beginning of the war and nobody wanted it to start back up again
In 1918 how were women able to vote?
1) The Representation of the People Act became Law in 1918
2) Not all women got the vote, the ones who did had to be: over 30 and a householder or married to a householder.
3) The same act all men over 21 the right to vote
4) Women were also able to become MPs, it didn’t go to all women over 21 until 1928, which was when they got equal voting rights
