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

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

In 1918, women were finally given the right to vote. This was die to the new 'Representation of the People Act' passed at this time. However, it did not apply to all women, only those over 30 were given the right to vote. This was different to the legal age of 21 men were allowed to vote. In the same year, the bill to allow women over 21 to stand for parliament became law but it was only passed just before the election. This meant female candidates had little preparation time and was probably the reason why there were so few women standing for parliament.

One of the reasons for women getting the vote was the war work they did. Before, women mainly worked within domestic service or textiles and dress. When they got married, they were expected to give up their job in order to look after their family. When the war started in 1914, many men went to fight in the trenches, leaving thousands of businesses with nobody to run them and