The first act of militancy occurred in 1869 when Millicent Fawcett spoke out to a mixed audience at the Architectural Society in London. The Victorian society considered these early suffragists to be daring and unladylike as such acts were unheard of. However, by the end of the nineteenth century public speaking had lost its momentum unless it took place at an unusual event. For example, in 1908 Millicent Fawcett became the first woman to debate at the Oxford Union where she received a lot of publicity.
These first acts of civil disobedience were considered to be militant, and the most common ways were tax evasion and census resistance. The first recorded act of tax evasion was in 1870 when two Quaker suffragists who refused to pay their taxes had their property seized by bailiffs. In 1911, the Women’s Freedom League organized a boycott of the census, which was supported by the WSPU and the NUWSS. They encouraged women to stay overnight at their headquarters to avoid census officials and provided all night entertainment.
In 1908, the WSPU decided to increase political pressure and used confrontational methods to force MPs to enfranchise women. Suffragettes adopted militancy as a response to the failure of their peaceful campaigns, and their reaction to the Liberal government of 1906 who denied the suffragettes their right to protest legally, and who force-fed women in prison. They felt that militancy was the only alternative and it challenged male supremacy, therefore the WSPU were seen as heroic and modern feminists. Some illegal methods of militancy included window smashing, the first attack occurred in 1908 at 10 Downing Street, after Mary Leigh and Edith New had their deputations refused by the Prime Minister. This tactic was then adopted by the WSPU, who made it their official policy. Emily Davidson committed the first arson attack in 1911, after she set a pillar-box alight. This brought militancy to a new level, as it spread through Britain and became official WSPU policy. Other damaging behaviour included destroying public property, for example Mary Richardson slashed a picture by Velasquez that hung in the National Gallery. When suffragettes were arrested they went on hunger strike in prison which also became official policy. This generated publicity and sympathy for the suffragettes, especially when force-feeding was introduced.
When the war broke out, the WSPU suspended all of its suffrage campaigns and took a nationalistic approach, for example, by 1915; the WSPU had handed over their funds and organisation to the government which used the WSPU to recruit women workers by organizing demonstrations, like ‘The Great Procession of Women’ in 1915. The NUWSS however, was divided over the war as not all members supported it, even though all suffragists helped with the war effort. For example, the NUWSS organised a register of voluntary workers who found work for the unemployed, as there was an increase in women’s unemployment. Finding work for the unemployed became the main priority for the NUWSS in towns and cities all over Britain, for example, in Birmingham, workrooms were opened to make war clothing, and women were organised to replace men in industries such as munitions and welding. Unlike the WSPU, the NUWSS continued to promote suffrage campaigns and held petitions and meetings. Women of different social backgrounds joined wartime groups and did work which was deemed unsuitable in peace time. A Land Army was formed in 1917 where women worked on farms ploughing and planting crops. Other women joined the Women’s Royal Navy Service (WRENS) and the Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAFS). These women provided internal assistance and were drivers, typists or storekeepers as they were not actively involved with the war. Upper class women were encouraged to join the Voluntary Aid Attachments (VAD) who assisted injured soldiers in hospitals set up by the Red Cross. The invaluable support given by both organisations showed that women were reliable and mature and could do the same jobs as men just as well.
In addition to these reasons, the main contributing factor, which gave women the vote, was the political change in 1916. The Coalition Government of 1916 meant that no single party would benefit from women’s suffrage, as at this time party divisions were less important. Women had showed their determination for the vote by their suffrage campaigns before the war and their contribution during the war, which showed that they deserved to be enfranchised, unlike in France where women were denied the vote, as they had not been any women’s suffrage movements before the war, even though they helped with the war effort. Britain was also keeping up an international trend by enfranchising women as other countries such as Iceland and New Zealand had already given women the vote.
As we have seen, there were many contributing factors to women’s enfranchisement. However, there is probably not one single reason. Although women’s work during the war undoubtedly brought women’s utility into public view, there were many contributing factors for why women were enfranchised, and one reason was the general political change during the war and the many MPs who sympathised with women.
