“Women proved by their war work that they deserved the vote equally to men’.

Question 1

Introduction - Context

Answer 1

• In 1866, over 1500 women signed a petition calling for women to be afforded equal voting rights as men.
• This sparked the beginnings of the formal women’s suffrage movement.
• The traditional view of a woman’s place in society had kept them out of the political sphere since democracy was established in Britain.
• It was believed that women involved in politics would neglect their responsibilities at home.

Question 2

Introduction - Factors

Answer 2

• The most adequate explanation of why women achieved the vote is women’s war work.
• However, there were other factors such as Suffragettes, Suffragists and Foreign Influence.

Question 3

Introduction - LOA

Answer 3

• In this essay I will argue that women’s war work is the most adequate explanation of why women achieved the vote.

Question 4

women’s war work - success

Answer 4

• Women proved by their war work that they deserved the vote equally to men.
• This is because women’s contribution to the war effort included factory work, this can be seen as over 700,000 women worked in munitions where explosions were commonplace and TNT poisons caused these women to be nicknamed ‘canaries’.

Question 5

women’s war work - success analysis

Answer 5

• Arguably, this shows women deserved the vote equally to men due to the dangerous war work women contributed to during the war on the home front as ‘canaries’ as it showed women could perform the same jobs as men.

Question 6

women’s war work - failure

Answer 6

• However, women proved by their war work that they deserved the vote equally to men only to an extent as the Representation of the Peoples Act 1918 gave women over 30 and those who owned property enfranchisement but majority of the women who did war work were in their 20’s so they were not actually awarded the vote.

Question 7

women’s war work - failure analysis

Answer 7

• Arguably, this shows despite women’s effort during the war as ‘canaries’ the women who were given the vote were not in the age bracket of those who would have been working in the factories and therefore those working in the factories did not actually receive enfranchisement.

Question 8

women’s war work - evaluation

Answer 8

• In Evaluation, women proved by their war work that they deserved the vote equally to men as although the women who got the vote were 30+ and they did not work as canaries.
• Nevertheless, women worked as conductors on trains and trams, as typists and secretaries and 20,000 women worked in government departments which proves women’s war work was the most adequate explanation for why women achieved the vote.

Question 9

suffragettes - success

Answer 9

• Another way that women proved that they deserved the vote was through the role of the Suffragettes.
• This is because in 1909 Suffragette Marion Dunlop started a hunger strike in Perth prison which was designed to embarrass the government if or when a Suffragette died in their care.

Question 10

suffragettes - success analysis

Answer 10

• Arguably this shows that the Suffragettes used hunger strikes to attract publicity to their cause so the movement kept in the public eye in attempts to persuade people that women had the right to vote equally to men.

Question 11

suffragettes - failure

Answer 11

• However, the role of the suffragettes was less important in proving that women deserved the vote as many historians have claimed that the Suffragettes held back progress for women as they reinforced the idea that women were irresponsible, immature, and unable to cope with responsibility.

Question 12

suffragettes - failure analysis

Answer 12

• Arguably this shows the Suffragettes are a less adequate explanation of why women achieved the vote as some people viewed Suffragettes as irresponsible and immature which reinforced the notion that women were incapable humans who did not have the capacity to vote in Parliament.

Question 13

suffragettes - evaluation

Answer 13

• In evaluation, the suffragette movement was a somewhat important factor in women achieving the vote but not as important as women’s war work as although Suffragettes made their stance on enfranchisement clear by Marion Dunlop’s hunger strike which created attention to their campaign.
• Nevertheless, Suffragettes was a less important factor than women’s war work as Historian Rover states, “public opinion became overwhelmingly favourable towards women after the war”, this shows that women gained the publics favour after their contributions to the war effort proving women’s war work as the most adequate explanation of why women achieved the vote

Question 14

suffragists - success

Answer 14

• Another factor was the suffragists which were founded in 1897 by Millicent Fawcett.
• They believed in peaceful, moderate protesting and “peaceful persuasion” to get the vote for middle-class women, they were a significant reason why progress was made for women’s enfranchisement.
• Evidence of this was their membership was around 53,000 by 1914 and they even received agreement of mutual support by male trade unions and the Labour Party.

Question 15

suffragists - success analysis

Answer 15

• Arguably this shows that the suffragist’s campaign contributed to the enfranchisement of women as they managed to receive significant support and membership and managed to negotiate important deals to advance the fight for women’s rights.

Question 16

suffragists - failures

Answer 16

• However, there is evidence to argue that the suffragist’s campaign was less effective as a reason why women achieved the vote.
• This is because many historians argued that the campaign was slow and tedious and that they were not getting publicity due to them doing legal campaigns.
• Evidence of this is suffrage societies were founded in 1866, therefore they made little progress within 50 years.

Question 17

suffragists - failures analysis

Answer 17

• Arguably this shows that the suffragists were unable to make a significant impact towards women’s enfranchisement as after half a decade, little to no progress was made.

Question 18

suffragists - Evaluation

Answer 18

• In evaluation, whilst the suffragists were able to amass a significant following and were able to make advancements through negotiating with trade unions, were nevertheless less successful in achieving the right to vote as they made little progress in getting the vote for women in 50 years.
• Nevertheless, it was women’s war work, which contributed as the most crucial factor for the reasons for women’s enfranchisement, this is exemplified by Herbert Asquith who said, “How could we have continued without them [women]”.
  -This quote shows Asquith clearly thought women’s work during the war was significant in Britain’s success, and because of this, he felt they deserved the vote equally to men.

Question 19

foreign influence - success

Answer 19

• Another factor which was an important reason as to why woman achieved the vote was foreign influence, Britain at the time viewed itself as the ‘cradle of democracy’, however it found itself falling behind other countries in democratise.
• This can be shown through countries such as New Zealand enfranchising women in 1893 and Australia in 1902.
• Britain had also said that World War One was fought to protect democracy, and therefore couldn’t be seen as ‘lagging behind’.

Question 20

foreign influence - success analysis

Answer 20

• Arguably this helped women achieve the vote as Britain was fighting to protect its image as being an advance society that had democracy at its heart and had to give women the vote, so it didn’t fall further behind.

Question 21

foreign influence - failure

Answer 21

• However, the foreign influence was less significant as there was no evidence to say foreign influence even played a part in women achieving the vote and there are no records it was even discussed by MPS in parliament.

Question 22

foreign influence - failure analysis

Answer 22

• Arguably this shows that foreign influence was less important in helping women achieve the vote as there was no clear evidence to show it was even considered when passing the Representations of the Peoples Act in 1918.

Question 23

foreign influence - evaluation

Answer 23

• In evaluation although foreign influence was an important factor in helping women achieve the vote as Britain was trying to not lag behind other countries such as Australia by giving women the vote in 1918, however by 1927, 25,000 women were working on farms with around 23,000 in the ‘Women’s Land Army’ growing food for those at home and soldiers at war which shows women’s war work was the most adequate explanation of why women achieved the vote.

Question 24

Conclusion

Answer 24

• In conclusion, there are many reasons why women’s war work was the most adequate explanation for why women achieved the vote.
• The Suffragettes was a factor of lesser importance because, whilst hunger strikes in prisons helped gain publicity for their cause and made the public feel sympathetic towards them, nevertheless, women worked as conductors on trams and trains and 20,000 women worked in government departments, so women’s war work is the most adequate explanation of why women achieved the vote.
• Suffragists was a factor of more importance as their membership was around 53,000 by 1914 and they reached agreements with mutual support with some male Trade Unions and the new Labour Party.
• However, this factor is less important than women’s war work as ‘The Nation thanks the women’ billboards across the country and newspapers called women ‘heroines’ which can be considered an adequate explanation of why women achieved the vote.
• Finally, foreign influence was a significant factor but not as significant as women’s war work as although Britain saw itself as a cradle of democracy and said that World War One was fought to protect democracy, and therefore couldn’t be seen as ‘lagging behind’ so women should be given the vote.
• Nevertheless, women’s war work is the most adequate explanation for why women achieved the vote as over 700,000 women worked in munitions factories as ‘canaries’.
• Overall, women’s war work is the most adequate explanation of why women achieved the vote.

Question 25

social change success = negative

Answer 25

• Social change Social changes where an important reason for why women gained the vote after the war.
• A number of laws were passed to improve the social status of women before the war.
• In 1870 women were now legally allowed to keep the money they earned rather than having to give it to their husbands which showed an improvement in women’s social status as they were given more independence from their husband.
• Furthermore, women’s rights saw further improvements from 1870 to 1894 where now women could vote and stand for election to school boards and county councils.
• Arguably this is important in the gaining of votes for women before the was as the status of women was improving in society as they gained more political involvement and more independence with their money.

-However, although the changing attitudes towards women in society was an important reason in women gaining the vote after the war and becoming more politically involved in Britain, its successes were limited, this was shown by the number of women serving on local councils which was very small, 24 out of 11,140 were women.
- Arguably This shows that even though women were making some progress in becoming more respected and politically involved, they were still limited in their successes in becoming equal in society as very few women were impacted by these changes.

Answer 26

• In evaluating although the changing attitudes towards women was an important factor in achieving the vote in Britain after the war on the one hand social change improved rights to women through 1870-1894 in which women being legally allowed to keep their money that they earned, which contrasted to previously in which they had no control over their earnings.
• Nevertheless, women’s war work was more important as “war smoothed the way for democracy - it is one of the few things to be said in its favour” Historian Taylor claims as the war led the way for women to receive their democratic say through the vote so women’s war work was the most important