This source was written by a married woman writer in the 18-1900’s. She strongly believed that women should not fight for the women’s right. This is reflected in her writings, such as the book from which the source is taken from. She believes that women are only the breeders and possessions of men, and not the equal. Her book, ‘Woman Or Suffragette’ was titled this, as an attempt to separate the two ‘species’ from one another.
The book, ‘Woman Or Suffragette’ was written in 1907, when the fight for women’s rights was not yet at its peak year. This book was probably published at this time, as an attempt to turn people’s opinions against the suffrage campaigns, early on.
Books in 1907 were read very often, and with Marie Corelli as a best-selling author for approximately thirty years, she was selling her novels at around 100,000 copies per year. This made her book an effective way of advertising her ideals.
(Source C – Cartoon drawn by Bernard Partridge in 1906 called “The Shrieking Sister”)
The poster illustrates two women who are both fighting for the right to vote. The woman on the left is the suffragist, who fights in a non-violent and lady-mannered way. The suffragist is standing tall and full of dignity, compared to the suffragette on the right, who seems to be reckless and less stable. The suffragettes were the women who fought with violence, and screamed for their rights.
The suffragette is reaching out for the vote in a seemingly uncontrolled way, whereas the suffragist, very calm, holds out her hand with the caption reading “You help our cause? Why, you’re its worst enemy!” This suggests that the suffragettes are in the wrong.
The two sources differ in many ways, but they both disagree with the suffragette campaign. In Marie Corelli’s extract, she writes that women should not fight for the vote, as they are only the inferior beings to men. In Bernard Partridge’s cartoon, although disapproving the suffragettes, agrees that women should be allowed the vote. This is shown when he writes the caption, “You help our cause?” this shows that the two are ‘sisters’ in the way that they are both fighting for the vote. He also shows the suffragist in a positive stature, which tells us that he approves of the suffragist approach to the vote.
In the end, Source B does support Source C in disagreeing on the suffragette campaign, but have different views on the suffragists.
Question 3:
Why, despite the Suffragette activity, had women not gained the vote by the outbreak of the First World War?
By 1914, War in Britain and everywhere else was inevitable. As there were so many treaties with England and other countries, one thing led to another, and Britain was led to war against Austria–Hungary and Germany.
The suffragettes, not wanting to cause more problems for their country whilst on the brink of war, stopped their campaigning and helped with war efforts. Their violent demonstrations, endless public abuse and shrieking cries for suffrage came to a hiatus and they turned their energy to helping Britain win the war.
Because of the excellent aid women were to Britain during the Great War, they were granted the right to vote.
But why was it, that even before the war, women did not achieve this right?
During the years surrounding the First World War, Ireland fought to be its own country, and not a part of Britain. The Irish Home Rule affected the British government with a great problem. Britain wanted Ireland to remain part of them, but Ireland demanded being their own government and free to do as they wished, without disclosing their problems to the whole of Britain. The British government was busy dealing with this problem, and had no time to concern themselves with the women suffrage. This was a setback for the suffragettes, and they could not yet gain the vote.
The Suffragette campaign was into its eleventh year by the outbreak of the First World War. They had started their battle in 1904, when they first changed the tactics of the Suffragists, into military tactics of the Suffragettes.
In its beginning years, the suffragettes received much support from the public. Many began to see women from a different view. Before, women were treated as second class citizens. They were viewed as property, owned by their fathers, husbands, brothers, uncles and even sons. Since the suffragette campaigns, people had been shocked into realizing the unfairness and unequal attitudes towards women. The public supported the campaign, and they received a sympathetic shoulder from the media.
But soon, the suffragette campaigns became more and more violent. The violence at first was not so bad. It drew peoples’ attentions and also made them comprehend the reasons for their fight but once people came accustomed to the violence, they wanted it to stop. People began to think that the actions were too strong. They saw that through the violence, there was nothing to organize them. Once people saw this, they started to think that the act was just a group of mental women who lost sight of the cause they wished to fight for. This is what they meant in Source C – “The Shrieking Sister”.
In source D, Emmeline Pankhurst tries to justify their violent actions with the need for public attention. But the violent actions alienated the public and the government and so the rift between the women’s fight and the women’s vote seemed to grow further apart.
Question 4:
Study sources 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?
(Source F – A poster produced by the government in 1916)
The poster displays an image of a smiling woman, who is apparently working as a munitions worker. The aim of the poster was to make the job as a munitions worker appeal to women. A munitions worker helps make the weapons needed for the Second World War.
At the time, Britain was in need of workers. But the men of the country left to fight, and there was hardly anyone left, except women.
The fact that this poster was produced two years into the war, must have meant that during the first years, the government was reluctant to give women the chance to work. But soon they realized that they needed the extra help, and so they made posters to encourage women to help in war efforts.
The poster displays a woman who seems to be enjoying the work that she is doing for her country. During the early twentieth century, women took on roles which involved no thinking, no hard-labour and no physical activity. The men in power believed that women could not handle the roles of men. The poster produced just symbolizes the mistakes in their beliefs.
(Source G – Statistics from a school textbook, published in the 1980s)
The statistics show the number of women who worked in 1914 and 1918 in various jobs. The numbers in 1914, when the war started, were extremely low. After the war, the numbers with some of the jobs almost tripled.
Source F is not very useful in displaying the contribution of women to the war efforts. Although the fact that the poster was made shows the need of women in the war, it does not present any hard facts about the numbers of women, the places they worked (other than as a munitions worker) or the helpfulness of their work.
Source G, however, is extremely useful. It explains the number difference of women in employment since the 1914 to the 1918, which, as you can see, is a major difference. The increase in employment shows us the amount of women who have helped in the jobs named.
Question 5:
‘It was the work that women did during the war that earned them the vote.’ Use sources H, I and J and your own knowledge, to explain whether you agree with this interpretation.
I believe that the work women did during the war had helped earned them the vote, but it was not due completely to their help in the war efforts.
Many say that the help women performed during the Great War was what changed the government’s minds about women suffrage, as they finally gained the right to vote in 1918, once the war was finished. But others may argue that if the campaigning before the war had not happened, women still would not have earned the vote. So it was due to both the campaigning and the war efforts which had helped women earn the vote.
Source H, an extract from a history book called, ‘Women’s Suffrage in Britain 1867–1928’, argues that the war effort was not the reason why women earned the vote. In fact, it states, the war only ‘shows how little change resulted from the war’. It is the belief that only the women who had brought children up successfully would be allowed to be awarded with the right to vote, and was not a reward for those who helped in war efforts. These values could be correct, as the right to vote, in 1918 was only granted to those women over 30 and were married. Politicians believed that these types of women would be more ‘sensible’ and would vote the same way as their husbands.
Source I, another extract from a history book called, ‘Women at War, 1914-1918’ agrees with the second idea of the other events surrounding the war which had contributed along with the conflict, to allow the women’s vote. It agrees that to believe that the vote was the reward for war efforts was to ‘make a rough generalization’, but it also contains some truth.
Source J was part of a speech by Herbert Asquith, the Prime Minister from 1908 to 1916 claiming his change of views on his oppositions towards the women’s suffrage. He read this speech in 1917, when the war had been going on for three years, and the women’s suffrage had also been put on hold for three years. Asquith believes that women should be allowed to gain some ‘measure’ of women’s suffrage because of the peaceful homes of Britain, now that the campaigning had stopped. That is to say that he deems the fact that just because of the peacefulness of Britain without the violent campaigning, women should be allowed to have a reward for showing that they can stop campaigning. It was not a reward, in his views, for the war efforts.
All of these sources believe that apart from the war, the campaigning, the political situations and the other social changes helped in earning the right to vote. The quote at the beginning of the question believed that the war was the only reason why women gained the vote.
The sources’ views are what I believe to be the truth. If the suffragettes had not campaigned so violently or so strongly, the government would have not rewarded women with the right to vote just because of the war.
The suffrage for women ended in 1928, when women were given the equal rights to vote as men.