1. Why did the campaign for women's suffrage develop in the years after 1870? (15 marks)

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1. Why did the campaign for women’s suffrage develop in the years after 1870? (15 marks)

The campaign developed at that time, as it was then the rights of women began to improve. Though women were still thought of as second-class citizens, during the 1870’s the women’s suffrage became a mass movement.

        Prior to 1870, there were laws that meant that women were unable to keep any of their earnings once they married. That also meant that all her possessions belonged to her husband as well. In 1870, the Married Women’s Property Act meant that women were allowed to keep £200 of their earnings.

        Women such as Caroline Norton are what helped the campaign develop. After a court found that she was innocent of adultery, Caroline Norton’s husband left her and took their children, taking with him her inheritance. Because of the laws at that time, she had no real control over whether she was permitted to see her children, even when one of her sons died. She fought this, even though British law was against her as she was technically the property of her husband. She battled this until in 1873 the law was changed so that all women could see their children if they were divorced from their husband.

        It was because laws such as this were changed that others began to believe that it was possible to gain the women’s suffrage. Legal steps were then being taken to better the position of women, legal inequalities that faced women were beginning to then balance out.  

        Another cause to why the women’s suffrage developed was because of economical reasons. In the late 1800’s, women were paid half, and sometimes less than half, what men were in the same jobs. For example, in the 1880s in domestic service, men were paid £35 a year, whereas women were paid on £10-£16 a year.  Working class women were being used for cheap labour. Though these women worked hard, some would only make 120s, or 60 pence, a day. It was reasons such as this that women demanded the right to vote.

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        In 1867, The Second Reform Act meant that 2.5 million male householders were able to vote out of a population 22 million. And in 1884 The Third Reform Act meant that almost 5 million men were given the vote. This meant almost two-thirds of the male population. This meant that then working men were given the right to vote, whereas women, who are in a higher class to them, still were unable to vote. Because of the increasing number of men that were able to vote, it was thought that women should also be able to receive the vote.  

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