In other democratic countries, women were granted the right to vote much earlier than in Britain. In New Zealand they gained the vote in 1893, Australia in 1984 and Finland In 1906. This demonstrated to British women that it was possible and encouraged them to carry on with the campaign.
Women all over Britain were fighting for rights on many different fronts. The victories from each of the struggles proved that they could succeed and encouraged activists to continue with the cause.
Overall the main reason a campaign for women’s suffrage developed rapidly after 1870 was because there were more and more educated women who felt the injustices of society were too much to ignore and had dedication to the cause of freedom for women.
- Describe the ways in which the methods of the Suffragists and the Suffragettes were different
The campaign to gain the vote for women was split into two fractions, the Suffragettes and the Suffragists. Although they shared their aims, their styles of campaigning were greatly different.
Suffragists were members of the ‘National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies’ (NUWSS). The NUWSS was founded in 1887 after several regional societies across the country merged. It was designed to be inclusive to all of the women’s suffrage societies that had been formed and so that with time more organisations would join. The leader of the NUWSS was Millicent Fawcett who was married to Henry Fawcett MP, one of the handful of MPs who supported votes for women. At its peak, around 1914, the NUWSS had over 100 000 members and was well organised with over 500 local branches nationwide. The members believed that the vote could be gained through non-violent action and that traditional campaigning methods could prevail. The NUWSS was an impressively run society that had the respect of many people both male and female.
The suffragettes were members of the ‘Women’s Social and Political Union’ (WSPU). The WSPU broke away from the NUWSS in 1903 under the leadership of Emmeline Pankhurst and with the help of her daughters Christabel and Sylvia. The WSPU were a hard core of women who were frustrated by the lack of progress in women’s suffrage. Under the slogan ‘Deeds not words’ it campaigned in confrontational and often violent ways. Unlike the NUWSS, the WSPU did not allow male members to join and the struggle was very bitter. There were, even at its peak, only 2 000 members of the WSPU but the directness of its actions meant that it was nationally notorious.
The WSPU and the NUWSS differed in their support of political parties and candidate. The NUWSS policy was to obtain a declaration of opinion from all candidates, and regardless of party, support whichever one had views that were most favorable to the cause. The NUWSS changed its position in 1912 in favor of the Labor party. The WSPU’s tactic was to ‘Keep the Liberals Out’ in the hope that government would fall to the pressure of the suffrage movement, without being hindered by an opposition.
Suffragist action was peaceful and its rallies and marches were all attended in an orderly and respectful manner. It sent thousands letters and petitions to Members of Parliament in the hope of persuading them to vote to give women suffrage. The organisational skills of the movement attracted admiration from even those who disagreed with the cause and the demonstrations often attracted the attention of the newspapers
By 1905 the media had lost its interest in women’s rights and the Suffragettes started using tactics that were more direct and attention grabbing. They hoped to get the issue of women’s rights at the forefront of political debate and to get people to think of it as a major issue. Using tactics such as heckling speakers at political meetings and shouting through megaphones in prominent public places, their message was clearly delivered to a large number of people. The WSPU also campaigned through chaining themselves to railings, smashing shop windows, burning post boxes and even going as far as burning down churches. Through action such as these, suffragettes made enemies as well as gaining a bad reputation. They were thought of by many as just acting as irrational women and thus proving that women were incapable of voting.
On October 13th 1905, Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney, both leading members of the WSPU, interrupted a Liberal Party meeting whilst a government minister, Sir Edward Grey was speaking. They shouted “Will the Liberal Government gives votes to women?” When they refused to stop shouting the police were called to remove them from the meeting. Pankhurt and Kenney refused to leave and during the struggle to evict them a policeman claimed they kicked and spat at him. This was a huge moment in women’s suffrage as it was the first time that violence was used to and it shocked the nation. The women were found guilty of assault and told to each pay fines of 5 shillings but both refused and so were sent to prison.
In 1907, Suffragist activists presented the king with a large petition and also floated a hot air balloon above London, dropping ‘Votes for Women’ leaflets into the streets. At a demonstration in Hyde Park in 1908, organisers claimed over 250 000 people had attended the rally. The Daily Chronicle newspaper said of the event ‘Never, on the admission of the most experienced observers, has so vast a throng gathered in London to witness an outlay of political force’. The support of the NUWSS shows that they were an important political force in Britain.
By 1908, Suffragette tactics started becoming more extreme. On 30th of June at a WSPU demonstration in London, Suffragettes marched on Downing Street and threw stones at the windows of the Prime Minister’s house and violent clashes with police followed. As a result, 27 women were arrested and after refusing to pay fines, sent to Holloway prison. Violent disruptions were seen again in London on 13th of October 1908 when another WSPU demonstration attempted to enter the House of Commons. 24 women, including Emmeline Pankhurst were arrested and sentenced to Prison.
Suffragettes continued using alternative hard line action and in 1909, an imprisoned suffragette, Marion Dunlop refused to eat. In the fear that she would die and become a martyr to her cause, it was decided that she should be released. Immediately all other suffragettes in jail adopted the same tactic but the prison authorities refused to be bullied into releasing them all and so force fed those on hunger strike. Determined to stop martyrs winning the heart of the public the government was forced to introduce the Prisoner’s Temporary Discharge of Ill Health Act in 1913, this allowed a prisoner on hunger strike to be released until they had recovered enough strength to return to prison. It became known as the ‘Cat&Mouse’ act due the way in which suffragettes were released only to be caught again. Acting like mice being caught by cats.
In June 1913, at the most important horserace of the year, the Derby, Emily Davidson became the first martyr of women’s suffrage by jumping in front of the King’s horse, Amner. The event sent shockwaves across the country and her well attended funeral create huge amounts of publicity.
In 1913 the extent of violence the WSPU escalated even further. Although not popular with all members, the suffragettes embarked on an arson campaign that involved the destruction of cricket pavilions, racehorse stands and golf clubhouses as well as the torching of a house being built for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George. These actions caused conflict within the WSPU and as a result leading members such as Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and Elizabeth Robins showed their disproval by ceasing to be active in the WSPU.
By the summer of 1914 the leading members of the Suffragette movement were either in prison, in exile or in ill health and the numbers of members committed to violent methods was very small.
Everything changed on August 8th 1914, when war broke out with Germany. Just two days later the NUWSS announced a cease to activity until the conflict with Germany was over. The suffragists wanted to support the country and their families and did not want to lose support by continuing their campaign during wartime.
On the 10th of August after Emmeline Pankhurst and the WSPU had negotiated with the government, all suffragette prisoners were released and the union fell full heartedly behind the war effort. It became involved in persuading young men to join the armed forces and changed the name of its magazine from ‘The Suffragette’ to ‘Britannia’. However they had not forgotten their true values. Emmeline Pankhurst recognised that the WSPU could gain support for women’s suffrage simply through their form of patriotism.
Suffragists also became involved in the war effort but not to the extremity of the Suffragettes.
The Suffragettes and the Suffragists fought in different ways for a common cause. Members of both the Suffragettes and Suffragists shared many views and opinions but relations and co-operation between the groups became much harder as the Suffragettes insisted on becoming more violent.
- Women over 30 gained the vote in 1918 mainly because of women’s contribution to the war effort. Do you agree? Explain your answer.
In my opinion there are several reasons that earned women the vote and the statement is in my opinion at best an over-simplification and at worst, untrue.
The war effort played an important role in women gaining the vote but I think overall, women’s suffrage was inevitable due to the huge campaign and support it received before the war began.
The reason that the vote was finally given, in my opinion is down to the combined factors of an increased number of educated women working in skilled professions and the respect women gained through the war effort. Another major part to the vote being gained was the threat to the government of a renewed militant campaign from the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).
Before war broke out in 1914, the Suffragette movement had been using extreme and violent tactics consistently for almost 8 years. These methods escalated as far as the burning down of the Chancellor’s house. For the government of 1918, the prospect of this campaign of terror being renewed was a large incentive to give the vote to women.
In 1914 the NUWSS movement was also huge with 100 000 members and massive amounts of political power. The opponents of suffrage for women would not of been capable of withstanding such pressure for long if the movement had been reborn.
When war broke out it was originally thought that it would be over by Christmas and so employers were reluctant to give jobs to women. However in 1915 when it became apparent that the war wasn’t going to be short and there was a lack of shells for the soilders, huge amounts of women began working in factories across the country. In 1914 just over 200 000 women worked in munitions factories across the country. By the end of the war that had increased to 950 000 and it was estimated at 80 per cent of all weapons and shells were being made by women.
In other areas, women’s organisations such as the ‘Women’s Police Volunteer’s’ helped patrol areas at where the police force was stretched due to the war. Members of the WSPU also became involved in the ‘Women’s International League’ which was an organisation, that had female representatives from every country, with a united aim to form peace between the nations.
Although the war effort undoubtedly won over supporters for women’s suffrage, women would have certainly gained the vote had they not been so involved. The enfranchisement of women in other countries – for example Canada in 1918, Germany in 1919 and Austria in 1919 – shows that women’s suffrage was defiantly a western trend of the time.
Society’s changing opinion of women was further helped along its way by the war and many peoples prejudges were undermined but it was certainly changing before the war began. The numerous alternations to laws between 1860 and 1912 clearly show represent that and votes for women was the obvious next step from those laws. There was also a large amount of support in the house of parliament for women’s suffrage before the war began which of course developed with time.
I do think that women over the age of thirty gained the vote in 1918, partly because of their involvement in the war effort. However, the war took place only in the last four years of an extensive fifty-year campaign. It just took the war to prove, along with the campaign for suffrage, that there is no place for sexism and inequality in a democratic society.
