“Worst way of campaigning for the vote.” David Lloyd George.
Many politicians at the time found the suffragettes chaining themselves to railings and lampposts amusing and turned a blind eye to these efforts by the suffragettes. Other politicians thought the suffragettes more violent and extreme means proved that they weren’t worthy of the vote.
“So long as these women confined their activities to such ingenuous performances as tying themselves to street lamps and park railings, throwing leaflets from the Gallery of the House on the heads of members, or getting themselves arrested for causing obstruction, the public were more amused than angry, though the opponents of women suffrage never failed to point to these antics as proof of the unfitness of women to vote. When they began to destroy property and risk the lives of others than themselves the public began to turn against them.” Philip Snowden, a politician
It was thought by many at the time that the antics of Emeline Pankhurst and the suffragettes hindered the cause of women’s suffrage; that the violence slowed down the Government Bill being carried.
“The window smashing has roused great hostility against the women. No greater blunder could be conceived. Everything was looking favourably for the women's amendment to the Government Bill being carried. The last outbreak has however endangered all. It seems as if devised purposely to show that women are incapable of political restraint. My conviction is now and always has been that the Pankhursts have been the bane of the women's movement.” Bruce Glasier, a politician
The violence used by the suffragettes definitely drew attention to women’s suffrage but whether it helped or hindered their cause is open to debate. One reason that may be seen as why women didn’t gain the vote before 1918 is that they didn’t have any way or really proving that they were equally capable as men.
In 1914 the First World War broke out and the men had to go off and fight. When they left, there was no one to do their jobs so the women stepped in. Women started to do jobs that were seen as only men’s jobs, like munitions or transport. The NUWSS promised to stop all political action and the WSPU promised to help with the war effort.
In 1918, when the war finished, there was a crisis for the government regarding their election. You could only vote if you had stayed in the same place for 12 months. This needed changing as all the soldiers coming back from the war would not be able to vote. The suffrage campaigners saw this as a time to remind the government of their help with the war effort. The main political parties all put women’s suffrage into to their manifestos.
This all was a key factor in women obtaining the vote and in my view, the biggest factor. Since the war ended in 1918 and not before, that is why I think hat they didn’t get the vote before then.
