ATTITUDES TOWARDS WOMEN AND THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE HAD CHANGED BY 1918. HOW IMPORTANT WAS THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN BRINGING ABOUT THIS CHANGE?

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Eliot Proctor

QUESTION 2- ATTITUDES TOWARDS WOMEN AND THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE HAD CHANGED BY 1918.  HOW IMPORTANT WAS THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN BRINGING ABOUT THIS CHANGE?

In early 1918 the Representation of the People Act was passed which meant that people over the age of 30 or were over 21 householders or wives of householders were allowed to vote.  This showed that woman’s effort in the war had changed attitudes but before campaigns had always failed.  Yet attitudes about women had been changing slightly before hand as there were improvements in jobs, home life and education especially.  Women had the chance to work as nurses, in shops, teaching and office work, although there were still restrictions in pay, hours and promotion.  Education had been improving as girls were being taught, but only the necessary skills for finding husbands, such as needlework, dancing and etiquette.  Family life had been improving as acts were brought in for single women to get custody of their children, own property and keep their pay.  This shows improvements and a change in attitudes.  The only attitude which had not yet changed was giving women the vote.  Even with the two women’s suffrage movements in the public eye, they still failed to get the vote.  Although, women’s effort during the war was definitely a reason why attitudes towards them were changing.  

When war broke out in 1914, men had to leave their jobs and go and fight, leaving women (the suffragettes and suffragists, who stopped their campaigns) to “fill in the gap”.  This changed men’s opinions about women, and that they weren’t what they seemed.  As a result it was the war effort that changed men’s opinions about giving women the vote.  

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Women were not seen as capable to fill in the jobs, but they soon proved people wrong, as they took over jobs in factories, as bus conductors, grave diggers, and road layers.  They took over jobs in offices and replaced male clerks, worked in munitions and helped aid soldiers in France.  The shortage of men didn’t seem to be a problem, as women were just as keen and had even got experience in office work.  By the end of the war, half a million women had replaced male clerks.  They took over jobs in industry, such as engineering but employers ...

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