Choose one reason and explain how it contributed to women being given the vote in 1918.

ASSESMENT OBJECTIVE 1: THE CHANGING ROLES AND STATUS

OF WOMEN, C.1840- C,1990

Section 1

Here are three reasons why women were given the vote in 1918:

The Suffragists;
The Suffragettes;
The First World War

Question 1 – Choose one reason and explain how it contributed to women being given the vote in 1918.

Many different women’s groups campaigned up to 1914 for women to have the vote, the most famous perhaps being the suffragists and the suffragettes. The more dramatic of the two groups were the suffragettes. This women’s group also known as the WSPU (women’s social and political union) began in 1903 to contribute to the women’s movement, some could argue that they made a much stronger impact than the Suffragists. The founder of the suffragettes was Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters.

They started with quite a peaceful campaign, producing petitions and generally raised awareness to the women’s cause. But in 1908 Herbert Asquith became prime minister, he was a liberal and so this brought hope to women who believed they deserved the vote, hoping things may begin to change, but Asquith refused to introduce a bill that considered woman’s suffrage. This is where the WSPU really began to make their mark. They began to take more violent militant actions like smashing windows of parliament and chaining themselves to railings in protest. The suffragettes campaign was immediately headlining the media, as these actions were shocking to the general public, it was unheard of for women, being the weak apolitical creatures they were thought of as to be, acting in such ways. If the Suffragettes helped the cause in any way it was defiantly the way they got the attention of all people, some people supported them and many joined them, male and female alike. Then there were those who thought they were mad and their behaviour appalling.

They continued to cause chaos and started taking more extreme actions as they were continually turned down for their rights, one example of this was On May 19th 1905, ten women went to speak with the Prime Minister. One of the women was Emily Davies, who was seventy-six years old. She had the privilege of handing over the first women’s suffrage petition to the Prime Minister. Unfortunately, the women were not taken seriously and all their hard work was ignored, of course so they continued to act. In 1910 their actions became even more extreme when Asquith refused a “conciliation bill” part-time.

Many people had changed their view on women having the vote before the war, but not everyone had. They reacted extremely and began to get very clever, destroying letterboxes in the hope of destroying all communication; they cut telegraph wires, slashed tyres and dug up golf courses. It was now impossible to ignore the suffragettes, whether you thought women deserved to have the vote or not you saw the extreme actions of these women and how determined they were and you had to give it a thought, this would have brought many people around to supporting the cause.

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At times the Suffragettes would work together with the Suffragists and other women’s groups, holding processions and marches like the 1918 Coronation procession, which represented all women’s groups. But often the other women’s groups did not agree with the militant actions of the suffragettes believing it made them more enemies than supporters.

But on their own the Suffragettes caused a big stir using extreme acts of violence and with their amazingly effective propaganda, they got many people supporting women’s suffrage and this was very useful as many of their supporters were male and of political importance. I think the main way they contributed to getting women the vote in 1918 was the way they brought the campaign out into the open so people could begin to see what a huge issue it was or would become if they did not get their way.

They began to revolutionise people’s thinking and made Women’s suffrage stand out even though they did not succeed before the war, if they hadn’t brought the issue such huge publicity the idea that that women then deserved the vote may of not even been given a thought.

Question 2- Using all three, explain how both long and short term causes contributed to women being given the vote in 1918

When women were finally given the vote in 1918 it was after years of campaigning. The first motion for women’s right to vote appeared in parliament in 1867, John Stuart Mill introduced this. The bill was voted on, but only received 73 votes for and 196 against.

Before the women had the vote, the men had it. Before the men had it, only the MPs had it. The men had to work a little get the vote, but they got it far easier and quicker than women ever did.

Small numbers of women then began to gain an interest in women’s rights. In 1897 the NUWSS (National Union for Women’s Suffrage Societies) appeared, led by Millicent Fawcett They were called the suffragists, they were one of the first women’s groups, from good higher/middle class backgrounds they protested by reasoned argument, legal propaganda, and peaceful marches.

A while after the Suffragists in 1903 another notable Women group formed, led by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters, they became known as the WSPU (Women’s social and political union). They used direct action; this was the second stage in the emancipation of women getting the vote.

The Pankhursts were great self-publicists, they knew what they had to do to bring attention to the cause, They set fire to post boxes and they went on hunger strike when imprisoned, they chained themselves to railings and produced clever posters. They fought police when they were arrested and also organised demonstrations. The suffragettes gained a lot of media attention and this is exactly what they intended to do.

Those are the two women’s groups; they had both worked very hard over the years for women’s suffrage but still hadn’t obtained the vote. The suffragists had been campaigning for women’s suffrage six years before the suffragettes even began and they continued once the Pankhurts had given up after the First World War. Despite the fact that they stayed out of the limelight, starting in 1879 the NUWSS worked peacefully yet hard for over 50 years while the Suffragettes chaos stole the headlines, but the suffragists really started the campaign, without the suffragists there may not have been suffragettes and who knows, without suffragettes there may have been no suffrage for women. The suffragists were the long-term cause that contributed to women being given the vote in 1918.

The suffragettes began in 1903 and had ended in 1916, lasting 13 years this militant campaign for the women’s suffrage got the cause so much media attention and brought it to everyone attention whether they were interested or not, they gained the cause many supporters and brought the issue to the eye of the public with drama.

The 1914 First world war was the trigger event, as all the men went to fight for their country it was women who took on their jobs and ran the country in their absence, this just proved that women were stronger and more able then people believed and so the effect was immediate, they could not be refused the vote.

Question 3 – Was any one of these reasons more important than the others in women being given the vote in 1918? Explain your answer.

The battle for women’s suffrage was an ongoing issue in Britain as early as the 1830s. From roughly the 1830s to 1918, women struggled to win the right to vote. This all in all denied women the same legal rights as men and offered them inferior education as they were seen as the ‘weaker’ race, they had no rights as everything they owned belonged to their husband once they were married.

They were denied the vote for many reasons, mainly because men believed women belonged at home looking after the family and were not responsible or mentally stable enough to deal with important affairs such as politics.

It is a very controversial issue as to which cause was the most important in getting women the vote, as many people have different opinions, as it is a complex situation. My personal opinion is that the First World War was the most important factor.

Although women did try very hard to win the vote, there was the long steady peaceful campaign of the NUWSS run by Millicent Fawcett, which started producing petitions and campaigning very early on. There was also the more militant campaign of the Suffragettes led by Emmeline Pankhurst, which had a more radical strategy which kicked in to action a bit later on.

But neither of these groups or any others actually got women the vote, despite campaigning for many years and having many new bills looked in to, In the years running up to 1914 women campaigned hard to achieve their goal but to that date never succeeded. The problem with these groups was that they couldn’t prove to everyone that the opinion so commonly thought of women was wrong, indeed they could tell people this and make a fuss about it but there was no way they could possibly give evidence and show people the strong political minded people they could be without already having the vote, this is what I would say was the weakness of the women’s campaigning.

So this is why I think world war one was the most important, they were given the opportunity to prove themselves in the war, which dated 1914-18. Up until that point many men and women had viewed their suffragette campaign as unruly, out of order and far too radical and probably had not heard of the Suffragists. But during World War One, their contribution to the war effort proved them to be strong and capable of more than the men thought. Their determination and the hard work they put in could not be ignored. Whilst the majority of men had been called up to fight for their country in World War One, women did not just traditionally sit around at home looking after the children and doing the housework anymore. They now had more responsibilities than ever before. They had the opportunity to work in all fields of work ranging from a bus driver to factory munitions work to civil service work with the male soldiers on the front line.

Two very important fields that needed to be filled were munitions and farming. The factory munitions work was an extremely dangerous job to fill, which didn’t seem to put most women off as during the war about 950.000 women worked in the munitions factories. The fact that women were working in such dangerous and tough conditions just proved that women were more physically and emotionally stable than men believed, It was now hard to ignore as women were practically now running the country as the men were fighting.

During the four years of war, over 38,000 women also worked as nurses (VADs) on the front line, this was seen by many as a very heroic task, which came hand in hand with high risks such as death. They also took on normal jobs such as in taxi drivers, post and policewomen; they also worked in breweries and heaved coal. Working in these kind of jobs also meant they were wearing uniform, often trousers which at this time was never seen, this just went to prove that women could do things the same as men could. All these things were just proving to the country exactly what the WSPU and NUWSS could not do with just their campaigns.

This changed the way women were looked at, they proved themselves not weak and of a stable mind. To conclude, we cannot put it down solely to one thing that got women the vote because of, there was a web of causation and all causes played a part, the suffragists worked long and hard gaining political respect and the suffragettes caused a storm in the media and brought masses of attention to the cause, but up until then neither of these factors had actually had successful results, they just needed something that would help them prove themselves so they could show that they were right. Women’s role in world war one was the most important to them achieving the vote by 1918. By taking on the roles of many stereotypical male jobs during the war they proved themselves to be responsible and strong when put under pressure or in a hard situation, they proved most men’s views that had been strong for centuries to be wrong.