Votes for women

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History coursework assignment 2:  Votes for women

Question 3

I agree partially that women’s contribution to the war helped them gain the vote for over 30s in 1918.  But I don’t agree that it was the only reason that they got the vote, there were many different arguments as to why they gained the franchise in 1918 but there are three main ones and these are the arguments I will be discussing.  I believe that all three of these arguments aid in the progression of granting women’s Suffrage, but not one is responsible entirely.         

When the First World War was declared, women decided to abandon their Suffrage campaigning and join together with men to defend their country.  This can be analysed in two different ways.  Either they wanted to help defend their country from the Central Powers purely through their strong nationalism, or they saw the opportunity to show the government that they were able to handle the country while most men were away fighting.

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Women were still just as passionate about gaining the right to vote during the First World War, but now they had seen a new way to go about this campaign.  In 1914, there were still jobs regarded as men’s jobs and those regarded as women’s jobs.  With many men away on military duty, women had to step in and take over.  A poster produced by the government in 1916 (source F) shows that the government was also keen for women to step into the men’s jobs.  Working as a munitions worker would have definitely have been considered a man’s ...

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