Womens Vote Flashcards
Background
*During the 19th century the general view from most men (including those in government) towards women was that they were unintelligent and immature, and understood little about politics.
*Increasingly, women wanted the vote as it would give them a voice nationally, and they needed it to force greater change for women in Britain.
*After many years and much campaigining, voting laws were changed in 1918 to give some women the vote
Factors
*The Suffragists
*The Suffragettes
*War work
*Foreign influence
Line of Argument
Suffragists
The Suffragists (1)
*(K) Suffragists used peaceful tactics, such as writing letters, speaking to MPs, writing newspapers and making leaflets.
*(A) These tactics proved to the British public that women were capable of taking an active and intelligent role in politics.
*(A+) These tactics, due to their peaceful nature, were very easy for opposing politicians to ignore
The Suffragists (2)
*(K) By 1914 the Suffragist campaign had over 53,000 members, most of which were middle-class women, although there were many men and working-class women involved too.
*(A) This showed that women were capable of making a nationwide movement, showing how they were able to impact politics and put political pressure on the government.
*(A+) As this membership mostly consisted of women, their political power was limited, despite their large numbers, and the fact that they were mostly middle-class meant that opponents could argue their views were not fully representative.
The Suffragettes (1)
*(K) Suffragettes used militant tactics, there were occasions when they fire-bombed buildings, sent letter bombs or poured acid in mailboxes.
*(A) The violence made them impossible to ignore, they regularly made headlines and drew huge amounts of attention to the cause.
*(A+) It is possible that they hindered the cause, as their violent actions made them appear immature and impulsive, feeding into negative stereotypes about women.
The Suffragettes (2)
*(K) Suffragettes who were arrested often took part in prison hunger strikes. This resulted in the government force-feeding them to prevent them from dying and becoming martyrs, which was often portrayed as very violent by the media and newspapers.
*(A) The illustrations of these that were shown in newspapers were seen as horrific and garnered a lot of public sympathy for the Suffragettes and their cause.
*(A+) The hunger strikes were seen by many as a childish tantrum being thrown by the Suffragettes, again feeding into negative stereotypes about women.
War work
*(K) During WW1, women took over many of the jobs that British men had to leave behind to fight in the war. Women ended up working as train conductors, typists, and secretaries, and there were over 20,000 women working in government departments.
*(A) This was very important to the nation as a whole, and some historians argue in favour of the ‘reward theory’, which would mean women were awarded the vote as a thanks for their work during the war.
*(A+) Votes were only given to some women, specifically landowners and women over 30, while most of the women doing work during the war were in their teens or early 20s, and were typically lower class, so this would have rewarded the wrong women.
Foreign influence
*(K) Britain prided itself on being the ‘cradle of democracy’ during the 19th century, however other nations, such as New Zealand, Finland, and Norway had already granted women suffrage.
*(A) It was somewhat embarrassing for Britain that other countries were overtaking her in terms of democracy, and it is possible that women were given the vote as MPs did not want Britain to ‘lag behind’ by refusing to let half of her population vote
*(A+) There is no actual evidence that this was ever discussed by MPs in parliament, so it is entirely possible that this is irrelevant.
The Suffragettes (E)
Suffragists were more important as even if they brought a lot of attention to the cause, the Suffragettes were acting as terrorists, which made MPs believe they were unworthy of the vote, whereas the Suffragists had been slowly changing the perceptions of women to be more positive and ‘worthy’ of the vote through work like forming petitions with over 250,000 signatures and sending them to parliament.
War work (E)
Suffragists were more important as even if women did a lot of good service for Britain during WW1 MPs still would not have granted them the vote without being convinced of their competence, something that the Suffragists had a large role in, in part due to the fact that they suspended their campaigning during the war, proving women to be responsible and willing to prioritise their country, and therefore more deserving of the vote.
Foreign influence (E)
The revolutions in Russia did serve to make the government more nervous about riots should the people be unhappy, and may have in part persuaded them to appease British women by giving them a vote to prevent any form of revolution, but Suffragists were more important as if it were not for the Suffragists large numbers, the government would not have had to have fear of them revolting.
The Suffragists (E)
They were the most important reason as they organised marches, such as the Mud March of 1907, such a public display of support for women’s vote garnered a lot of public sympathy. The suffragists had done things such as this for decades, and succeeded in slowly changing the publics perception of women, and pressuring the government, both of which ended up with women winning the vote.
