Why did a campaign for women's suffrage develop in the years after 1870?
Votes for women Coursework
Why did a campaign for women's suffrage develop in the years after 1870?
The late 19th century saw dramatic changes in Britain's society and industry. More and more women were campaigning for women's suffrage in the years after 1870 and the Industrial Revolution completely evolved the way Britain produced goods. Although there were a lot of changes which helped women's status, some things remained static, such as the Franchise Laws, denying women the right to vote. A campaign for women's suffrage developed in 1870 because women were frustrated that they were being made second class citizens. They started to be more aware thus realised how unfairly their sex was being treated and wanted to change this.
New inventions such as the telephone and the steam locomotive emerged, makings Britain's economy one of the fastest growing at the time. While Britain's economy and industry moved forward, women were still second class citizens. The Victorian attitude to women was that a woman should stay at home and look after her husband. The culture of the time meant that very few women were skilled in any obvious professions and, therefore, there were few jobs that paid well for women during the nineteenth century. Many women felt deprived and angry, so they set up suffrage societies all over the country in order to gain more equality. In 1868, local groups amalgamated to form a series of close-knit groups with the founding of the National Society for Women's Suffrage (NSWS). This is notable as the first attempt to create a unified front to propose women's suffrage, but had little effect due to several splits, once again weakening the campaign.
The first real drive for a campaign for women's suffrage came in 1865, with the election of John Stuart Mill, who was pro-female suffrage. Mill became a strong advocate of women's rights and in 1869, he argued for the right of women to vote. He presented the first petition for the enfranchisement of women to parliament in 1866. The petition had 1500 signatures and although it was rejected many people saw this as an action which placed the issue of women's votes on the public stage.
Women did get some form of representation but only at local level. In 1869, the government passed an act that allowed women to vote in local elections. Many followers of the women's suffrage campaign used this as a counter argument to one the reasons given by people who believed women should not be allowed to vote in general elections. Many people believed that the act was passed at local level, because of purely political reasons. No party wanted to do something that would give the other parties more votes, so by only passing the vote at local level they could lessen the amount of people complaining for a vote and also they could say theoretically that they gave women the vote. But many people did not rise into the governments bait and said that if women were allowed to vote in local elections, why couldn't they vote in general elections?
In 1870 the Education Act was introduced this brought up another argument which was brought up in favour of women's franchise. This gave girls up to the age of eleven the right to an education equal to that of boys. This had a profound impact on whether women should get the vote, because one of the reasons for not giving women the vote was that people said that women were less intelligent than men. Also in 1870, the government passed the Married Women's Property Act. This law stated that if a woman owned property prior to marriage or inherited property during marriage, they legally owned it. The passing of this act was important, because it meant that women were legally recognised as individuals in their own right for the first time in history. This act granted some women the vote only on the basis that you were over 21 and owned land. This gave campaigners for women's suffrage another argument- if women who owned land could vote why couldn't all women? However, this argument would mean the total re-organisation of the Franchise laws, as the land ownership requirement applied to men as well. Although this Act mainly benefited wealthier women who were given property or, more rarely, had the chance to own property it was significant as it showed the equality between men and women was changing.
In 1872 the Secret Ballot Act was introduced. The act was introduced, so that voting could not be influenced by other people which made it a fairer election. The introduction of this act diminished the argument that women were not allowed to vote, because their decisions would be influenced by their fathers and husbands. If the women could vote they wouldn't have to tell anyone who they voted for. However the hard work and progress that the women's suffrage had put in was about to take a major setback with the death of John Stuart Mill in 1873. ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
In 1872 the Secret Ballot Act was introduced. The act was introduced, so that voting could not be influenced by other people which made it a fairer election. The introduction of this act diminished the argument that women were not allowed to vote, because their decisions would be influenced by their fathers and husbands. If the women could vote they wouldn't have to tell anyone who they voted for. However the hard work and progress that the women's suffrage had put in was about to take a major setback with the death of John Stuart Mill in 1873. The movement lost one of its major representatives at parliament and action needed to be taken quickly. His death was so significant because he was the role model in campaigning for women's suffrage. People saw him as the person who was going to get women the vote. Despite his death the campaign for women's suffrage continued and women began to work harder to try and gain the vote.
By 1890 the campaign for votes for women had already been in existence for more than twenty years. For much of that time the leading figure in the campaign had been Lydia Becker, who came from Manchester. Many local societies were formed as well as several national organisations, such as the Primrose League and the Women's Liberal Foundation. When Lydia Becker died in 1890, leadership of the movement was passed over to Millicent Garrett Fawcett. In the year 1897 hundreds of suffrage groups formed together to form the NUWSS (National Women's Suffrage Societies), the members of the NUWSS were known as the suffragists. This was the first major group that had formed in order to gain the vote for women.
As Britain continued to refuse women the vote, elsewhere women were being granted the vote in general elections. Countries such as: Australia, New Zealand all granted women the vote. Britain was put under increasing amounts of pressure because these countries were part of the British Empire. Britain had always put themselves forward as the country that were fully democratic and equal towards its people and by not giving women the vote it made Britain look undemocratic and unfair.
The suffrage movement started to develop after 1870 for many reasons. Many people were dissatisfied that women had been disenfranchised. It then continued to develop because of politics in Britain, events in other parts of the world and events in the campaign within the campaign itself. The laws and acts passed were vital to how the Suffrage movement developed. These acts had given women the equal footing they required to start a campaign for what they believed in, and to one day achieve it.
Describe the ways in which the methods of the Suffragists and Suffragettes were different.
The two most well known organisations in the campaign for women's suffrage were the NUWSS (National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies) or Suffragists and the WSPU (Women's social and political union) or Suffragettes. They both wanted women's suffrage, but their methods of going about it were different. While one of the groups used constitutional methods, the other used militant methods.
The Suffragists were formed in Manchester by Millicent Fawcett in 1897. They did not demand the vote for all women; they just wanted to have the vote on the same terms as men at the time. The Suffragists believed in using political method to gain the vote such as: reasoned arguments; holding meetings and issuing leaflets. Their most successful petition was in 1894, where they got 250 000 signatures. They had petitions rejected over 50 times before 1914. In 1897 the House of Commons actually accepted their petition, but it was rejected by the House of Lords. The Suffragists also addressed their message in "Voiceless London", which summed up the message of the suffragists, however very little progress was made.
The Suffragists did not regard their work as an attack on men, but as a reform for the good of everyone. They wanted to convert public opinion. They did not want to antagonise men, but to convince them of the sense of their arguments. Under Mrs Fawcett's leadership their numbers grew rapidly and they won a lot of support. At first the NUWSS and the WSPU worked well together, but Mrs Fawcett grew worried about the violent methods of the suffragettes. She thought they were losing the movement support with the public and MPs. She believed that using constitutional and civilised methods was the only way to get the vote.
In 1903 Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst, helped by her two daughters Christabel and Sylvia, formed the WSPU. Mrs Pankhurst was a member of the Suffragists, but she became impatient with the fact that the Suffragists' moderate methods had failed to achieve reform. The Suffragettes wanted "immediate enfranchisement" and did not care how they got it. They believed that the political methods used by the NUWSS were not helping their cause quick enough and more extreme action needed to be taken. Their methods included pouring acid into post boxes, smashing windows and chaining themselves to fences.
The Suffragettes were a splinter from the Suffragists. They wanted women to have the vote on the same basis as men. They also wanted reforms to improve social conditions and believed that if women had the vote they would be able to put pressure on the governments to carry these out. The suffragette's methods however were more militant than the Suffragists. The Suffragettes believed in "Deeds not words" and when it became clear that the new liberal government was not going to introduce reform, they turned to militant methods. They also restricted membership of the WSPU to women: men were not allowed to join. They soon showed that they would be using different methods from the NUWSS. In 1905 Christabel Pankhurst was sent to prison for hitting and spitting at a policeman at a liberal meeting. However, for a time their methods were similar to the suffragists. One of the most effective was to use megaphones to heckle liberal candidates at by-election.
In 1908 Asquinth took over as prime minister. He challenged the NUWSS and the WSPU to prove that there was a widespread demand for votes for women. In response both organisations held large marches in London. Trains brought hundreds of thousands of women to London for the demonstrations. However at the WSPU march, stones were thrown at the windows of the Prime Minister's house in Downing Street. The women responsible were sent to prison- but to their fellow Suffragettes, they were heroines. This was a turning point. With the government finding excuses for not granting women the vote, the Suffragettes stepped up their violent methods.
In 1910 the government introduced a Conciliation Bill to give votes to women. Both the NUWSS and the WSPU were involved in drawing it up. The WSPU even called a truce for a time and suspended its violence convinced that they were going to be allowed to vote. However, the government kept finding excuses for not letting the Bill become law and at the end of 1911 the patience of the WSPU ran out. The Suffragettes also took a new form of protest, hunger strikes. When the Suffragettes were imprisoned they went on hunger strikes. The authorities could not afford to let the women die, so they released them. Later, the authorities changed their tactics and began to force-feed women who would not eat. This involved putting a tube down the women's throat and pouring food in. The Suffragettes used this for its full propaganda value, as many of those who were force-fed were severely injured, in one case it resulted in the death of a member of the Suffragettes. This made the government seem morally wrong, which made some of the British public turn against them.
As the method of force feeding prisoners grew to be very unpleasant, the government introduced "The Cat and Mouse Act" in 1913. This allowed the government to release hunger strikers from prison but re-arrest and return them to prison whenever they wanted. However the Suffragettes still tried to get around this especially in the case of Emmeline Pankhurst who started appearing in public with a nurse, to demonstrate the amount of harm that was done to her.
The obvious difference between the suffragists and the suffragettes was that the suffragist used civil and calm methods, while the suffragettes used militant methods. Although the methods of the suffragettes were more violent they achieved more publicity than the suffragists, they brought the issue of votes for women to everyone's attention and they also made sure that once the war was over the issue of votes for women would return. They had made sure that it did not go away. It was now inevitable that women would be given the vote some time. But with the violence came consequences. The suffragettes gave Asquinth the excuse he needed not to give women the vote; they convinced many people that women were not sensible enough to be trusted with the vote and also the Liberals had at long last accepted the principle of votes for women and it is probable that they would have passed a bill in 1913. However, the extremism of the suffragettes disgusted many liberal MPs, who now turned against the idea.
Women over 30 gained the vote in 1918 mainly because of women's contributions to the war effort. Do you agree? Explain your answer.
In 1918 women who were over 30 gained the vote. Many historians believed that it was the war efforts that lead women to get the vote, because women got more recognition for filling in for the more physical jobs of men. This dismissed the argument that women should not be allowed to vote, because men were physically or mentally inferior. However there were some other factors which contributed to women getting the vote such as the activity of the suffrage movements leading up to and during the war, the changes in the government and also the war itself. All of these factors helped to play a major role in women getting the vote.
So many men had gone away to fight, that women were needed to do their jobs in factories and on farms. By 1915 Britain was facing a serious shortage of shells and bullets, because there were not enough men to work in the munitions factories, so in 1915 the government drew up a register of women who were available for work. Over 100,000 were on the register, but only 5,000 were given the jobs. This was because many male workers, the trade unions and factory owners were against having women in factories. They claimed they were unskilled and would not be able to do the work properly. They were also worried about women accepting lower wages than men and taking men's jobs away from them. The situation changed in 1916 when conscription was introduced. This made it clear to everyone that women workers were needed as the British army were running low on weapons and ammunition. By the end of the war women were working in all sorts of jobs. Many were involved in heavy work which people would have thought women incapable of doing before the war. This contradicted the argument that women were physically weaker than men, as it showed that they could do the same amount of labour as men, therefore which helped women in getting the vote.
As soon as he First World War began both the NUWSS and the WSPU ended their campaigns. Helping Britain win the war was their duty, so Mrs Fawcett and Mrs Pankhurst both campaigned for women to help with the war effort. The government at the time saw this as break in the violence that was undertaken by the WSPU, but this cease in campaigning showed how patriotic the women were and it also showed how they would put their country first in front of their own needs. Emmeline Pankhurst famously said, "What is the point in campaigning for a vote, if you don't even have a country to vote in." This reminded the government of what life was like without the threat of civil disobedience. The fact that 'The Suffragette' (the Suffragette newspaper), was still being published showed that they had not given up trying to get the vote. The government wanted to prevent the violence from resuming, and the fact that the Suffragettes were not active at the time meant that it would not seem like the government were giving into the Suffragettes.
As well as this, the war brought instability to Britain. If women were to start protesting after the war, it would only give the government more problems to deal with, so by giving women the vote it would give more stability to the country.
The war meant the evitable changes in the reforms of the franchise laws. It said that all men who owned land and property were entitled to the vote, but in 1914 all the men who were entitled to the vote had now lost it. This was because they were in the army, which meant that they no longer qualified under the household franchise. The government therefore in 1918 passed the Representation of the People Act which allowed all men over the age of 21 to vote. The Representation of the People Act gave the government the opportunity to give the vote to women at the same time. Before 1914 the government had not wanted to appear to be giving into women, but now it could allow women the vote without any such fear, because of the enormous amount of help that they contributed to the war effort.
During the war Asquinth the prime minister at the time was against women getting the vote. He was replaced by Lloyd George who was in favour of women getting the vote. Concerning this issue the absence of men allowed the Suffragists to become government representatives. During this time the Liberal party had been in power. However in 1915 the Liberals and the conservatives formed a coalition government. The liberals did not want to give women the vote as they knew they would all vote for the conservatives, so by forming a coalition government the fear of this was removed altogether.
Factors not relating to the war were also important in women gaining the vote. Women in other countries such as Australia and New Zealand were getting the vote. Britain always promoted themselves as the mother of democracy, so by other countries giving the vote to women, the government felt embarrassed that countries in their eyes that were "smaller" than them were allowing for women's suffrage. The government because of this would have been pressured more into giving women the vote.
By the end of the war women, through their work in the war had changed many people's ideas about their role in society. They had showed that they were not weak, fragile and stupid which dismissed a lot of the arguments for saying why women should not have the vote. They played a crucial part in winning the war. Even people like Asquinth said that, "without the women, Britain would have probably lost the war."
Ultimately there were many factors which helped women get the vote, but probably the main reason why women got the vote was the work in the war effort as it proved many people's opinions wrong. So by giving the vote to women over 30 in 1918 as a reward for the female contribution to the war effort. Women may have also got the vote, because the government may have realised how desperate women were to gain the vote, so this coinciding with the war effort, also contributed to women getting the vote.
Michael Adesite Votes for Women Coursework
