As well as similarities in these two sources there are also a few differences. For instance Source B is a speech, whereas Source C is Poster. Also Source C shows Suffragists as the sensible ones however there is no mention of Suffragists in Source B. Moreover there is another difference with the sources as well, however this difference has nothing to do with the actual source but to do the origin of the source; source B is serious speech Whereas Source C is more as of a cartoon poster, and although Source C has an important message to it, It also has a humorous sense to it.
3. Study Source D and E and use your own Knowledge. Why, despite the Suffragette activity, had women not gained the vote by the outbreak of the First World War?
Source D
Part of a book called “My Own Story” by Emmeline Pankhurst, on of the leading Suffragettes. It was written in 1912.
What good did all this violent campaigning do us? We have often been asked that question. For one thing our campaign made women’s suffrage a matter of news- it had never been that before. Now the newspapers are full of us.
The argument of politicians and the Suffragists has always been that once public opinion swings our way then without any force at all women will be given the vote. We agree that the public must be educated, but in 1906 there was a very large section of the public who were in favour of women’s suffrage. But what good did that do to the cause? We called upon the Government to give us the vote but they didn’t. So, now we will fight for our cause.
Source E
Part of a speech given by a Member of Parliament in 1913
I have no hesitation in voting against the principle of giving the vote to women. In giving women the right to vote this will ultimately put control of the Government of this country into female hands.
In the 1900’s women had been fighting for the Suffrage. Various methods were used to get the vote; some used peaceful methods and some used violent, but in the end all were striving to achieve the same goal, SUFFRAGE. In this essay I will talk about, why, despite the Suffragettes’ activities, women had not gained the vote by the outbreak of the First World War, I will use the help of source D and E and some of my own knowledge to answer the question.
Source D is an extract from a book called “my own story,” written by Emmeline Pankhurst (a leading Suffragette) written in 1912. Source D backs the idea that the Government did not give the vote to women because they would not back down to the Suffragettes militant ways, as they strongly believed in not negotiating with the enemy, seeing as it made the Government look weak, to back down to terrorist actions, such as the actions the Suffragettes were committing. Source D backs this point as there is a quote in the extract saying ‘we called upon the Government to give us the vote but they didn’t’. This implies to us that the Government were strong in backing their policy not to submit to threats or anything that may degrade the stature of the company.
Another reason that women did not get the vote was that, by giving women the vote this made people think that women would now be in control of the country, and people thought that women were too weak to be in Parliament, to make decisions regarding war and things such of that nature. In Source E a Member of Parliament is talking about his views on women gaining the vote, and he is saying that he will vote against women’s suffrage without any hesitation as it will “ultimately put control of the Government of this country into female hands” also. It was widely perceived by both men and women, that a woman’s role was domestic and that this should be a woman’s main priority. Even the most influential of female figures, Queen Victoria, believed that giving women the vote would disturb the age-old idea that it was a man’s job to shelter women from the vindictive realities of political affairs.
Furthermore the Liberal party considered that once women got the vote, they would all vote for the Conservative party, and that the liberal rule would gradually come to an end.
Another factor for women not receiving the vote by the outbreak of the First World War was that, there was approximately 17 million women in the UK at the time, and only a about 300,000 people were part of the campaign. This was a very small percentage of people; consequently the Government may have thought that the matter was not important enough.
One final reason why the women did not get the vote by the outbreak of the First World War was that, there were far more significant matters in the country at the time. Issues such as the Irish home rule, where the Irish sought the British to get out of their country, yet the British did not leave Ireland; as a result the Irish issued a few terrorist attacks in London. This was seen as far more important than the women’s suffrage movement as innocent peoples lives were at stake when it came to the terrorist attacks from the Irish. In addition there were matters inside the country that had to be sorted out, such as the trade unions and child health issues. Most importantly, Britain was on the brink of war.
Moreover this gave the Government excuses to delay the matter of giving the vote, as they believed there were subjects of superior importance. This showed how the Government saw the issue of females getting the vote and also how it was highly discarded by them.
In conclusion, I think that it was the mainly the fault of the Government that held up women receiving the vote prior to the First World War. This is because of their lack of enthusiasm to change and their fear of a female dominated society. This I think is a very important reason why the women did not get their suffrage, as the every male at that time stereotyped woman as the weaker sex and as the “domestic” figure in their lives and when a person has a belief for a long time it is quite hard to change a view on someone or as in this case change the view on a whole sex. Furthermore this is an important reason again because fear sometimes overwhelms the sense of right and wrong and in this case the fear might have clouded the Government’s decision in giving women their suffrage. Also the ego of the Government as a whole, in conjunction with their belief on women in a domestic environment, stood in the way of women getting the vote. This again I think is a strong reason in which women did not receive as man has been said to have much pride and big egos, and due to their pride and ego they did not want to give women the vote as it may have seemed as if women had won. In addition I also think that the militancy of the Suffragettes delayed women receiving the vote, as no Government is willing to give up to terrorist actions, seeing that it would make them weak, giving in at the first sign of blackmail. This leads back to the other point of fear clouding judgement, however in addition to this if the Government would have given up to the suffragettes radical actions this would have made the country seem weak for crumbling at demands given by a firm hand with methods such as terrorism, this may have made others think of terrorist acts as a good way to get their point across or to achieve something, which may have led to the country falling apart.
4. Study Source F and G. How useful are these two sources as evidence for the contribution of women to the war effort in the years 1914-1918?
Until the First World War, women had still not achieved their suffrage. This was mainly due to a few main things. To name a few; the militant ways of the Suffragettes, as well as other issues in Parliament at the time such as the Irish home rule, and many more. However due to women’s help in the War, they slowly and surely began to attain their goal. In this essay I will talk about Sources F and G and how useful these sources are as evidence for the contribution of women to the war.
Source F is somewhat useful in showing women’s contribution to the war. Source F is a wartime poster used as propaganda to persuade women to enrol into the women’s munition services. I think that this Source is Useful in showing that women contributed to the war, seeing that it shows the dominating sex at the time, men, were approaching and almost begging women to come and help them, this showed that men depended on women for help when they were in trouble, this is one of the reasons why women demanded the vote; if men could come for women’s help in time of need, then why can women not have more responsibility and have the vote? This is the argument that women presented in their nationwide struggle for suffrage.
However there are many limitations to this source for using it as evidence. Firstly this poster was used as propaganda, meaning that the Government would try and make it as biased as possible to get women to join the munitions services. One final point is that women were not taking over the part of men completely; they were merely being used as a temporary replacement for men, while men were out doing more important things, things which were considered masculine such as fighting for their country.
Source G on the other hand is a table showing employment of women from the July 1944 to July 1918. This was produced by a school text book with the simple purpose to provide facts about women’s employment during the years of the First World War. Something we can perceive from the table, which we could distinguish as useful is that we can see the clear increase in amounts of women working in key war associated industries. Such as the metal and chemical industries, Government offices and food, drink and tobacco; some of the most vital resources for soldiers in the war. Another thing we can learn from Source G is that, as women started working in what may be called as “men dominated jobs” they would start and gain vital life skills that would later in life benefit them if they had the opportunity to keep the jobs after the war.
First of all, what restricts us from seeing this source as useful evidence is that we have no indication of the long term affects that of women in the work place. We are only told about a certain time period; July 1914 being just before the war and July 1918, a few months before the war came to an end. The table does not mention anything prior or after the First World War. Another limitation is that we are only showed the progress of four industries. There is no indication about any other major war related industries that may have boomed during the war. This restricts us from saying that all women became successful in all industries in Britain. Also this source was made quite a while after the war. This means that the source is not as accurate as may be thought, as it was not made at the time of the actual war. Finally the source only gives us two fixed times, so we don’t know the number of employed women in between those times, for all we know there may have been a dramatic decrease in employed women during the years 1915, 1916 and 1917.
In conclusion, there is much that can be said about these two sources and the usefulness they contain. For example, what links the two sources is the suggestion that without the propaganda of source F, we may not have that data that was produced in source G. Although obviously, there were other factors that contributed to the big uprising of women in the workplace. It can be said that source F isn’t useful, because of the fact that it is a propaganda piece. Therefore we do not have a true depiction of what women working as part of the ‘war effort’ was actually like. Whereas Source G is more reliable. This is because it is a factual piece, extracted from a school textbook.
5. Study Source H, I and J and use your own knowledge. “It was the work that women did during the war that earned them the vote” use sources, and your own knowledge, to explain whether you agree with this interpretation.
Source H
From a History book called “women’s suffrage in Britain, 1928-1967” written in 1980.
A very simplified view would see the vote as a reward for loyal wartime service. However, careful study shows little change resulted from the war, not how much.
In the newspaper reports of the of the time women workers received a warm welcome; but in farms hospitals factories they were greatly resented. This reflects most men’s attitudes towards women at the time. Men felt happiest if women became nurses, providers of refreshments for the troops and bought up the fighting men of the future. Politicians themselves agreed with the idea that the women who had bough up successfully had performed a service for the Government which could be rewarded by giving the vote to such loyal citizens
The age limit of 30 was agreed by politicians because these women seemed to be more sensible and more likely to vote the same way as their husbands.
Source I
From a history book called “Women at War, 1914-1918” written in 1980
To say that the war brought votes for women is to make a very rough generalisation, yet one which contains some truth. The question of women’s rights must not be isolated from other great social and political changes that were happening as a result of war. During the four years of conflict a tremendous mood favourable to change had been created.
Source J
Part of a speech by Herbert Asquith in the House of Commons in 1917. Asquith had been Prime Minister from 1908 to 1916 when he had opposed giving women the vote.
My opposition to women’s right to vote is well known. However, for three years now the Suffragettes have not restarted that horrible campaign of violence. Not only that, they have contributed to every service during this war except that of fighting. I therefore believe that some measure of women’s suffrage should be given.
After the First World War, things began to change in favour of women. For the first time in the history of Britain women over the age of 30 were allowed to vote. Even though this did not seem as a lot of change and only a minority of women were allowed to vote, this was actually a major victory in women’s struggle for suffrage as it was the beginning of the end to sexual discrimination in politics. In this essay I will talk about whether I agree or disagree with the statement that it was the work women did during the war that earned them the vote. I will use Source H, I and J as well as some of my own knowledge to back up whether I agree or disagree in addition to presenting a balanced argument.
The help that women gave during the war is one of the most vital reasons in which women gained their suffrage. This is due to the fact that women showed they were just as able as men. They proved their worth as took on such challenging jobs and responsibilities in a short period of time shortly after the war began. Also as the women stopped their campaigning to help in the war, this showed that women cared about the greater cause, helping their country in a time of need, this showed that they were not selfish but mature, which in turn were the traits that the British Government thought someone needed in order to be able to vote. The British Government highly sympathized with women after they put their domestic lives on hold in order to join the ‘war effort’ and contribute to what resulted to be a triumphant War. It is often said that without the participation of the women on home ground, the war may had never been won.
This is supported by Source J, in which Herbert Asquith, a Member of the House of Commons in 1917 said that he believes the ‘measure of women’s suffrage should be given’. This point is important as we begin to see the change in opinion of not only the Government but the general public about women’s suffrage. In addition the views of the public and Government changed when the suffragettes stopped their extreme actions and all women worked together as a unit to help the greater cause, which was to save their home land. So in reality it was partially women’s fault that they did not receive the vote sooner, as they showed that they were irresponsible and not worth of the right to vote.
Furthermore after the war the country felt more of a unit, they felt closer and now saw women as equals to men ( thanks to their help during the war), this made the population as a whole more comfortable to give the vote to women. This was important as it showed the continuous growth and change in Britain after the war.
However some may disagree and say that the war effort from the women did not gain them the vote. Most likely to be the most important of the reasons why the war may not have been a cause is because of the introduction of the new electoral register (other wise known as the Representation of the People Act) in 1918 and. This legislation was inevitable, as before then, many who had fought in the war were unable to vote. This wasn’t fair to those men after doing such a job and providing a service to their country. So in giving more men the power, the Government decided to trial the idea of female voting. This turned out to be very successful. This is important as it establishes that the Government had obvious plans to introduce women to the vote, regardless of their involvement in the ‘war effort’.
Another powerful point that supports the negative argument is that the vote was not given to all women in 191, although women became eligible to vote, it was only those over the age of thirty. This is shown in Source H, where it is stated the ‘the age limit of thirty for women was agree’, because ‘these women seemed to be more sensible’. Also the Government hoped that they would ‘vote the same way as their husbands’. Meaning that regardless of if women participated in the war or made some valuable contribution, there was still an age restriction. This was important as it showed that the Government was not prepared to give the vote based on merit alone, and that they still believed that women were not ready for the vote.
One ground-shattering point is that there was already greater social and political change happening which allowed women to have the opportunity to vote as there was a mass change in the thinking of society. This suggestion can be supported by both sources H and I. In source I, we are told from a history book produced in 180 that ‘the question of women’s rights must not be isolated from the other social and political changes’. This indicates that the decision to give women the vote was just a factor in the overall change that Britain was going through. Whereas in source H, we are informed by the 1980 history book that after careful studies, ‘little change resulted from the war’. Implying that the war made no contribution to women getting the vote. This is important to the argument as we are proved that the war was irrelevant to getting the vote as the country was already immersed into a positive change.
One final point that should be taken into consideration but holds less importance, is hat there was still growing opposition to women working therefore their work would have made no difference to weather they were granted the vote or not. There were many campaigns that were formed in order to bring to an end to women in the workplace. One of the most famous is the ‘Heroines to Scroungers’ campaign. This point, finally, is important as it showed that there were still men in the world, regardless of the mass amounts of effort women put into the war, believed that women were still inadequate and couldn’t cope with the cut throat world that was voting.
In conclusion, it is clear that yes, the work of the women was the biggest if not the single most important factor in getting them the vote. This is because of the versatility and the dominance that women managed to show while working and therefore being rewarded with the vote. The points made in the argument clearly show the change in opinion of the Government and the public, only in the later stages and towards the end of the war. Indicating, the First World War was the trigger for women receiving the vote.
