The Changing Role and Status of Women

        The war was an influence on women receiving the vote. During the war, women had done vital jobs at home which helped the country to carry on domestically and in the war itself. The media recognised this and started to support the womens cause. They were also impressed with the patriotism that the women had during the war and how they helped the war effort rather than carry on campaigning. There was also a new wartime Government with MPs supporting the women and their campaign. With all this support for women and the men who were in anti-suffrage groups away from home, it was only fair that women should get some form of reward for their work. At the end of the war in 1918, women over the age of 30 were given the right to vote. Firstly, the Government didn’t want more women voting than men. If women over 21 had been given the vote, the majority of voters would be women. Secondly, the Government believed that younger women did not understand important issues such as politics. Women over 21 eventually gained the vote ten years later.

        However, war was not the only factor in women gaining the vote. Women held the country together during the war. Women had proved themselves to be equal to men as they had taken over mens duties whilst they were fighting the war. The new wartime PM David Lloyd George was in favour of women having the vote and said “Women cannot fight but they fill our munitions factories. They are doing work which the fighting men had to perform before and this makes a special appeal to me. Since the war began, we have had no recurrence of that detestable campaign and no-one can say we are giving into violence”. This statement by the PM shows that he was impressed by the women and the way they had acted during the war. The House of Commons agreed that some women should have the right to vote. Some women were upset that not all women got the right to vote but accepted the terms as an important first step. The House of Commons voted in favour of women having the vote in June 1917. All that was left was The House of Lords to agree in the same way as The House of Commons but there was one problem; The House of Lords were firmly against women having the vote saying that The Representation of the People Act would ruin the country if passed, that women were politically worthless and the whole of the womens movement was disastrous and wrong. Although there was so much opposition to women from The House of Lords, when it came to the vote, the right for women to vote was won. The Representation of the People Act was passed in February 1918 and women over 30 voted in their first elections in December 1918.

        I will now conclude my essay with my own opinion. I think that if it hadn’t been for the war then it would have been a longer struggle for women to gain the vote. The War gave women the opportunity to prove to the Government that they were worthy of the vote and also showed what they were capable of doing. Women also impressed the Government with their patriotism and their halting of campaigning.  They also deserved some form of reward for keeping the country going whilst men were abroad fighting and it was only fair to give them something they wanted as they had worked so hard. I personally believe that the First World War was the main factor in helping women to get the vote.