"Without the First World War British women would not have gained the right to vote in 1918" Do you agree or disagree with this interpretation?

At the beginning of the war people thought it would be over in a matter of months so men rushed to sign up before it was too late for them to be part of the glory. But as the war dragged out less and less people were willing to sign up until eventually the government forced able men to join the army, this meant men leaving their jobs to fight in the war, this created an enormous labour shortage so the government had to think of an alternative to men.

Women were already working in important jobs in other countries in Europe and even in the USA so the government decided to launch massive advertisement campaigns to convince women to help "fight in the war" by going to work in the factories.

Although the posters and magazines said men and women united in a common cause the men still working were not very co-operative to the women doing less-skilled work and even tried to get them sacked by sabotage of their work. This wasn't true all the time as women doing skilled work had the full co-operation of the men and even a little respect.

Women having vital jobs in the war effort showed men how responsible women could be and as women could be an important part of society they thought they should be able to decide who runs the country, that's why some women organisations such as the Women's Freedom League refused to suspend protests and continued with their campaign's to win women the vote. This may of given women a little bit of bad publicity but the bigger organisations like

The NUWSS and WSPU had called off the protests in return for all suffragettes to be released from prison.

In a speech made before the war by Lord Curzon, a Conservative leader, it was said that "women do not have the experience to be able to vote" it also said that the way women had been educated, their lack of strength and the duties they had prevented them to be able to vote. Women were outraged by this, women said that they were just as mentally strong as men and equal in all other ways.

The suffragettes and suffragists issued out many posters, postcards and cartoons in favour of votes for women but one of the most famous was the suffragette postcard issued, before the war, in 1910. It said "what a women may be and yet not have the vote" and listed mayor, nurse, mother, Doctor or teacher and factory hand. Underneath it says "What a man may have been and yet not lose the vote" and lists convict, lunatic, owner of white slaves, unfit for service and drunkard. This argument is very persuasive and helped the women's movement greatly by persuading women to join and convincing men too. This style of argument is very effective and it is still used today to try and get votes at 16.

The First World War was a tremendous boost to the women's movement as it showed the men that the women were capable of the responsibility needed to have the vote. Although the war was a great help I think that the suffragettes and suffragists would still of got the vote eventually but not in 1918. Even though it was only women over 30 who were house owners or married to a house owner who got the vote it was still a massive leap towards women gaining the vote on equal terms as men in 1928.