Votes for women c1900-28

Authors Avatar

Claire Javeleau 11KJH Mr O’Neill

VOTES FOR WOMEN c1900-28

     Source A is a Suffragette poster that was produced in 1912, to show what a woman could be and not have the vote and what men may have been, and not lost the vote. From Source A, I can learn that there are many reasons women were campaigning for the right to vote. A woman could be a doctor or a teacher, a valuable aid to the community, and not have the right to vote, whereas a man could be a violent drunkard, no use to the public, but would able to vote in general elections, choosing who would make the laws of the country. The poster plainly states that women deserve the right to vote, because they are as skilled, as knowledgeable, and as educated as men. From the poster I can learn that there were many reasons that women wanted the right to vote.

  • Women wanted better working conditions
  • They could not have their rights properly safe-guarded in the legislature of the country unless they had the right to vote.
  • As long as women didn't have the right to vote, they will be 'bottom dog' as wage-earners
  • Whilst men who are voters can have their opinions listened to, women as non-voters are ignored.
  • Women have to obey the laws equally with me, and they ought to have a voice in deciding what those laws should be.
  • The legislature in the past has not made laws that are equal between men and women: and these laws will not be altered until women get the vote.
  • Certain issues concerning home life cannot be satisfactorily settled if the woman's point of view is ignored.
  • If women aren't given the right to vote, then children will continue to believe that women are inferior to men.

 

     The suffragettes were demanding the vote for women because they wanted equality between men and women. They wanted to be treated with as much respect as men were and they wanted to be paid the same as men were for doing identical jobs. The suffragettes were middle and working class women who wanted to make a difference to their lives, and every other woman in England. The unfair system of voting that took place in England in the early 1900’s did not include women at all. The fight for sexual equality was one that many British women took to heart, joining either the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) or the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). Both causes fought for equal rights, and votes for women, but in different ways. However, their aims were the same. As demonstrated by the source itself, the voting system was incredibly unfair, with female doctors and teachers not being able to vote, but a male lunatic could.

     From studying Sources B and C about the Suffragette campaign, I have concluded that Source B does support the evidence of Source C regarding the campaign.

     Source B is an extract from a book written in 1907 called 'Woman or Suffragette' by Marie Corelli. From this passage you can tell that she disagrees with the view many woman share about giving women the vote. From the title itself, 'Woman or Suffragette', it tells us that Marie does not think that you can be a woman and a suffragette. She thinks that the violent action taken by the suffragettes is unladylike and manly, and no woman would take part in such actions. She does however, acknowledge that there is a problem with women at the hands of men, as she says, “It cannot be denied that women suffer greatly at the hands of men.” However, she feels that the way to resolve this problem, is not by using violence to gain women the vote, as the Suffragettes do, but to bring boys up to have a better social conscience. This would therefore lead them to grow up and make morally correct decisions that would be fair to all ages and genders, and women would therefore not need to have the vote. Women could then stay at home and concentrate on improving the way they rear their sons, as this is where Marie thinks the problem lies, as she says, “This is the result of the way in which mothers have reared their sons, and continue to rear them.”

     Source C is a cartoon drawing by Bernard Partridge from 1906. It is a cartoon of two women’s' suffrage campaigners, but one is a Suffragette, and one is a Suffragist. The Suffragist is saying to the Suffragette, “YOU help our cause? Why your its worst enemy!” The message of this cartoon is that although Suffragettes thought that by using violence and more noticeable forms of protest, they were actually not helping the cause, and turning the public against women’s' suffrage. The Suffragist calls the Suffragette the causes, “Worst enemy”, she is giving the women’s' suffrage campaign a bad name. It is associating it with violence, force-feeding and boisterous unladylike women, and turning the public opinion away from the suffrage campaign.

Join now!

     Both sources are about reform and that there needs to be something done about the unfair system in operation. However, the three points of view represented by the two sources, the Suffragette, the Suffragist and the opposition, are all different. The Suffragist and the Suffragette are both campaigning for women’s suffrage to bring about the change, but one is campaigning quietly using petitions and the other is campaigning violently, for example burning out buildings and chaining themselves to railings. Whereas the opposition, Marie Corelli wanted to change the way women brought up their children, i.e. sons to be ...

This is a preview of the whole essay