How and why did women get the vote in Britain?
How and why did women get the vote in Britain? In 1906 the Liberal Government swept the opposition to one side as they moved into power in a landslide victory at the general election. This gave birth to a new dawn of hope to women the length and breadth of the country as the new Prime Minister, Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman, was in support of the vote for women. Two years later this bright horizon was clouded as Bannerman steps down from the spotlight to make way for Herbert Asquith, who is set against votes for women and claims that there is little support for the idea but asks women to prove him wrong. It is certain the change in the countries leaders left a bitter taste in the mouth of all those fighting for the vote for women as the radical switch in stance on the issue shattered the dreams of the those who had been within touching distance of the goal only twenty four mouths ago. The women striving for the vote had formed two campaigning groups, one; the NUWSS and two; The WSPU, both of which had been in action during the time of Bannerman as well as Asquith. It is fairly safe to say that the two groups were hugely demoralised when the seemingly sympathetic figure of Henry Bannerman was replaced by the daunting brick wall of Herbert Asquith. A wall that would have to be climbed or conquered one way or another. During the time of Bannerman members of the NUWSS had been using subtle and respectable methods of campaigning that would force the Government and general population to realise that they were not merely emotionally unbalanced house keepers trying to rock the boat, but socially capable and intelligent members of our society. The NUWSS created this image by organised meetings and petitions, which were always peaceful, non-offensive and to the point. Meanwhile the WSPU were staining the clean picture of women the NUWSS were painting by protesting outside the house of commons which led to their arrest. They also disrupted by-elections by causing an uproar as MPs were speaking. The actions of the WSPU provided ammunition for those opposed to votes for women as they could now say, with reason, that women would not be fit for matters of politics as when all was not going their way they behaved in a disruptive manner that was unacceptable in the world of politics. It was a case of a few spoiling everything for everyone else. In an attempt to gain the attention of the Government the NUWSS marched upon London with an army of three thousand women through appalling weather. It is a brave and gruelling act that saw women from all over England band together and hold a disciplined and peaceful march in
order to claim what they believe is their right. The right to vote. The “Mud March” was all in vain though as barely a year later Asquith became Prime Minister and the chances of women getting the vote was hugely diminished. In June 1908 Both the Suffragists and the Suffragettes organised a massive procession in London, again calling support to them from the entire country. Asquith enraged the WSPU by patronising the women as he completely ignored them. The suffragettes smashed window in Downig Street and chained themselves to railings, which succeeded in gaining much publicity for the women’s cause. ...
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order to claim what they believe is their right. The right to vote. The “Mud March” was all in vain though as barely a year later Asquith became Prime Minister and the chances of women getting the vote was hugely diminished. In June 1908 Both the Suffragists and the Suffragettes organised a massive procession in London, again calling support to them from the entire country. Asquith enraged the WSPU by patronising the women as he completely ignored them. The suffragettes smashed window in Downig Street and chained themselves to railings, which succeeded in gaining much publicity for the women’s cause. In late 1908 a divide was growing between the WSPU and the NUWSS as the suffragists felt that the destructive and volatile campaigning of the suffragettes would cause a hostility towards all women fighting for the vote, both from the Government and from the now ceaselessly watching public. As the violence escalated more and more of the campaigning women were imprisoned and they were demanding to be treated as political prisoners, which the government refused to allow. Under no circumstances would the women cease in their struggle for the vote and they would not allow the mere matter of a prison cell to stop their campaign. Hundreds of women behind bars went on hunger strike in order to force the government into making a move, so the government moved. All those prisoners refusing to eat had their options removed and they were force-fed by groups of anti- suffrage prison workers. In an attempt to stop the WSPU hitting the front page by going on hunger strike, the Government filled the papers with pages of death and violence. A number of women were killed whilst being force-fed as the tubes for filling their stomachs against their will were accidentally forced into the women’s lungs which then pumped them with whatever was on the menu that day. A slow and painful death would surely create a massive feeling of sympathy towards the victim who would never have the chance to reap the rewards. Whilst members of the WSPU were suffering inside prison, those on the outside put a stop to the violent demonstrations when Asquith agreed to produce a Conciliation Bill giving women the vote. After doing well in the house of commons Asquith stalls the Bill, an act the lead to “Black Friday” as members of the WSPU fought the police on the streets and were arrested, beaten and raped. Asquith’s deceit, the WSPU’s impatience and the police force’s hideous brutality had led to scenes of sickening violence and abuse that could have been so easily avoided. A year later in 1911 the WSPU again call for a truce in the hope that the Conciliation Bill will at last be passed. Asquith stalls the Bill once more and then announces that it will be dropped completely, only to be replaced with a Bill giving more men the vote. This dramatic U-turn left the WSPU utterly furious with Asquith and over the next three years a vast campaign of violence was undertaken, with renewed vigour, by the WSPU. Women all over England took up the task of smashing windows of MPs houses, blowing up buildings, fire bombing letterboxes and vandalising racecourses, all those arrested went on hunger strike and the Government was faced with a huge problem as where ever they turned more fires rose up and more buildings burned down, whilst the public called for a solution. Asquith decided he could at least deal with the problem of those on hunger strike in his prisons. Instead of being force-fed women were allowed to starve until they became so weak they had to be admitted to hospital, where they made a full recovery and were discharged, only to be re-arrested and go on hunger strike again. This continued until the women had served her full sentence in prison, the time spent in hospital was excluded from the sentence so a six-month jail sentence could last well over a year. This “Cat and Mouse” act was an effective way to deal with only one of the many problems that the Government faced but if Asquith thought that the violence, vandalism and self starvation had cased bad publicity for him then he had a shock in store. June 1913 saw Derby Day looking to be a complete success with a good crowed surrounding the racecourse. No one would have given Emily Davidson, a well dressed women waving her flags like all those around her, a second look but what she has about to do would send her down in history as a martyr. As the leading horses sped past, Emily ducked under the railings and moved into the middle of the track. Hundreds looked on, helpless, as Emily Davidson stood firm in front of non-other but the Kings horse and waved her flags as if they would some how protect her from the thundering hooves of the animal hurtling towards her at high speed. The horse slammed into Emily and then collapsed on top of her. Emily Davidson was killed and the Kings horse broke its legs and had to be shot, it was a tragic day and it is still unknown whether Emily committed suicide or merely tried to disrupt the race. In the same month the NUWSS were still campaigning for the support of the public and organised another march to London. The “Women’s Pilgrimage” saw women walk to the capital from all over Britain, raising thousands of pounds along the way. The peaceful protests to the injustice that women were suffering were having a far better effect on the people of Britain but the fight for the vote was, in my opinion, being lost of behalf of all campaigners by the WSPU and their violent methods which were bordering on terrorism. Whilst Sir Henry Bannerman was Prime Minister of England I believe that the NUWSS could have succeeded in securing the vote for women on their own. A Prime Minister already in favour of the campaign would have used the fact that the women were well organised, efficient and above all, peaceful in their demonstrations to make their voice heard to pass a Bill giving women the vote. When Asquith became Prime Minister the chances of women getting the vote dropped drastically as he used the violent methods of the WSPU as an excuse to deny them their rights. Basically women could not have it both ways, they could not be peaceful and expect to get results overnight but they could not afford to be violent and expect people to be bullied into giving them the vote. I believe that if all women had wanted the vote then there would have been no need for violent protests but as some women felt they were represented by their husbands and would only waste their vote, Asquith could then claim that the NUWSS and WSPU were a minority and continue to ignore them. I think that if the campaigners had put more emphasis on the fact that Britain could not be a true democracy, with out women having the vote, they would have been successful before 1914 as they already had proof of this argument. Countries like the USA were over taking Britain in power and they had given women the vote before our countries leaders had even considered it. I will conclude by saying that those campaigning for the vote for women had already in their possession that which was needed to win the debate. But with no unison between the NUWSS and the WSPU, Asquith found it easy to disrupt their campaigns and brush their arguments to one side. The women had divided themselves and Asquith took full advantage. In 1914 the first world war began and Britain sent hundreds of thousands of soldiers off to foreign shores to fight for their country, but whilst they were gone there was still a country to run and thousands of jobs to do. Mothers, daughters, sisters, aunties, wives and widows, women of all backgrounds and classes took up the war effort at home and began to do jobs that before no one believed they could. Women became wielders, factory workers and dockers whereas it was only men who did this before. Britain was forced to sit up and realise that women were not feeble and physically incapable but could do manual labour and not only that but they could do it just as well as the men. Both the WSPU and the NUWSS had called a halt to their campaigning to help with the war effort, although the WSPU handed out white feathers as a symbol of cowardice to any men not in uniform. During the war (1914-1918) Asquith had a change in his attitude towards women and the vote as he saw, along with the rest of the country, that women had earned the right to the vote by their actions in the war effort. Although Asquith was swaying towards the side of the campaigners it still needed a slight amount of luck for the WSPU and NUWSS and a little negligence from the British government. Years before parliament had passed a Bill stating that anyone out of the country for more than six months could no longer vote in an election. This now meant that when the British solders returned from the war they would not be able to vote so Asquith rushed to pass a Bill changing that and as he did so, women again asked to be given the vote on the same Bill and Asquith swiftly agreed. I am convinced that had it not been for their help during the war women would have not got the right to vote when they did. Before 1914 the actions of the WSPU had condemned all women fighting for the vote in the opinion of the general public as they were seen as emotionally distraught and dangerous. I am sure Asquith encouraged this and used the media to project the image he wanted for the WSPU and NUWSS to the people of Britain. No matter how hard the women of the NUWSS tried, they could not keep a good image for women with the WSPU burning and bombing both public and private property. I also believe that, on its own, the peaceful campaign of the NUWSS would have won the right to vote eventually as they proved they could handle politics by being very well organised in their methods. Unfortunately members of the WSPU expected results far too quickly and their impatience led to them becoming violent and throwing away any chances of women getting the vote before the war. When Bannerman was Prime Minister women were very close to getting the vote as their peaceful methods only encouraged Bannerman to continue his support of them. Subsequently when Asquith became Prime Minister and the WSPU became viscous it looked forever unlikely that women would get the vote as he was gifted excuses to pass them off as just unstable women trying to cause trouble. However, when the war was drawing to a close and women had proven themselves capable of surviving in a mans world, Asquith was already well on his way to fully supporting women, so when the six month Bill was about to be passed and women jumped on the chance to have their argument taken to parliament, Asquith didn’t want and didn’t look for a reason to deny their request. The women got their fight to a higher level and finally won the right they so richly deserved, the right to vote.
