A big political factor that gave women the motivation to fight for the vote was that women in Britain could see other nations in the Empire giving their female citizens the right to vote. The Isle of Man was given it in 1881 and New Zealand and Australia were given it in 1893. After years of being inferior to men, British women saw the progression in other British colonies and questioned why they could not have that could not be the same in the mother country. The government acknowledged this in 1888; The Local Government Act gave women householders the right to vote in local elections, and the right to sit as councillors was given in 1907.
Socially women were significantly lower than men. But in 1871 that all changed when the first women were admitted to Cambridge University, bringing a new found freedom to women; however they were not allowed the same degrees as men, once again showing that even thought women were gaining status, they were still not equal to men. In 1857 the Divorce Act allowed a husband to divorce his wife on grounds of adultery and he could keep her from seeing her children, as women were seen as a “chattel” or possession of their husbands. However this changed in 1873 when divorced women gained the right to see their children, the father no longer had complete control, and in 1884 a married women was no longer considered a possession of her husband. This gave woman an improvement of social status and a freedom of choice.
Women needed the vote to give themselves independence because deserted wives had to give the money they earned to their husbands, regardless of whether they were homeless or not. But in 1853 women were given the right to keep the money they earned and in 1886 a deserted wife could force her husband to maintain her. For the first time women could live without their husbands support if they wished. Furthermore, in 1870 the Married Women’s Property Act allowed married women to keep £200 of their earnings, meaning that married couples were no longer being treated as one, and the wife could have the same property rights as an unmarried woman.
These factors show that women were gaining independence, but they still did not receive the one thing they really wanted which was suffrage. Overall women believed they deserved the vote to improve their lives, politically, socially and economically and to have parity with men.
