To what extent was the changing role of women the most significant development in Wales and England 1880

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Abigail Hill

7To what extent was the changing role of women the most significant development in Wales and England 1880-1929?

The changing role of women was a significant development in Wales and England in the period 1880-1929 through several other important developments that occurred during this period of time.

              WW1 played a vital role in the change of attitudes towards women throughout the world, not just in Britain. Before the war women usually only held domestic roles for example, maids and servants. This is because it was tradition in Britain - men did the hard work, and women tended to look after the higher classes. Women were thought of as not being strong enough to carry out the type of work men did. Only few women worked as it was, many of them, particularly married women, stayed at home and looked after their husbands and children. Previous to 1914 women had no political influence of any form. This is not due to lack of trying, the Suffragettes had been attempting for many years but to no avail.  The Suffragettes were an organisation established solely to gain the vote for women. Between 1890 and the First World War, the woman’s movement was extremely active and vigorous. By 1914, the women’s movement was focused on women suffrage. The women’s movement suffered numerous setbacks.  These failures were partly due to opposing organizations of anti-suffragists, who believe that politics was no place for women.  By the end of the 19th century, the nation’s view on politics started to change. Women were now fully involved in local politics and were campaigning for the vote. However by the 20th century there were still no universal suffrage, men on poor relief, labourers, factory and mill workers couldn’t vote – it was felt the needs could be represented by their employers, the mill/factory owners. With this in mind, it seemed the time was right for political reform. Despite more and more women becoming involved in political groups there were still major obstacles before women were enfranchised. Firstly, there was still no universal male suffrage therefore it was almost out of the question that women were given the vote until all men were. Secondly some men who had recently gained the right to vote stood firm on the status of their superiority that women were too ‘bird witted’ to vote responsibly and lastly, before the major political parties were prepared to extend the vote to women they wanted to be sure for whom these women could work for. Eventually, through the actions of both the suffragists and suffragettes women did gain the right to vote. Through the actions it convinced those who opposed to women’s suffrage that women were to be trusted with the responsibility to vote.

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              However, despite winning the right to vote this was still limited to over 30’s – many women were still disenfranchised. Traditional beliefs about a ‘woman’s place’ were still firmly entrenched in the minds of other people. Although some women had enjoyed independence during the war years at the end of the war they had to give up their jobs to returning service men. There were some changes – many women were employed in domestic service this plummeted and continued to do so. Also, women became better educated and more work opportunities were available ...

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