Some women were beginning to see that the Suffragists were getting no-where fast nor getting any satisfaction from their campaign any longer. This brought about the break-away group the Suffragettes. The Suffragettes also campaigned for the right to vote for women. However, they used negative motives, this included: blowing up buildings and chaining themselves outside of parliament. Although, the women had negative impact through their actions it was their only option; they had been forced to this extreme by the male dominated government. Emmeline Pankhurst (Suffragette Leader) made a speech in 1908 (Source A) asking women to get involved in the Suffragettes movement for women’s right to vote. Not everything she said was true; she implied that women would not have to give a single duty within their household. Yes, this was true for the middle class women, as of Emmeline herself but not so true for the working class women. Being ten years before the war it shows that this speech did not have any effect in the long term. In 1910 the Suffragettes designed a postcard (Source B) to put across that women could do anything that men could, although, this was slightly insulting to men as it showed them as drunkards and lunatics. This postcard links directly to the year it was produced as it shows women in the textile factories; maybe if it has shown them in the munitions factories it would have had slightly more impact. The postcard as a whole has little impact, Suffragettes would have been selling them in their shops therefore men would not have really seen these because men would not have entered Suffragettes’ shops.
Before the war, within the working world there was a hierarchy and a division between men and women. There were plain, unskilful, degrading jobs for women with very low pay and highly skilled well paid jobs for men. It was alleged that women’s small frail bodies and minds could only cope with light indoor work which did not need any of the factors of which men’s work did. This view of women was backed up by a speech made in 1912 by Lord Curzon (Source C). He said that women would be unable to vote because of their lack of strength and ability to learn, however, in just two years time women would be showing their strength both physically and mentally.
The war broke out and soon women were in much need. Finally they were able to work, women now had their independence. Women were getting paid the same as men; this gave their families a higher standard of living. Women found themselves working on the land, driving coal trucks, lifting coal, servicing aeroplanes and above all helping their country with the war effort by putting their lives at risk in the munitions factories. They were putting their lives at risk in the munitions factories with many shells exploding and killing them. Women’s hand became yellow from the TNT and many found out they would not be able to have children. The work the women were doing during the war was nothing like they had ever done before, they were learning new things and being put under immense amounts of stress yet their morale stayed high; in return the women kept their country economically able and soldiers in a position to fight.
As the war continued men’s attitudes towards women began to change. They saw that the ‘weaker’ sex was in fact able to do skilful work; munitions, engineering and mechanical became highly appreciated work for the soldiers. Women were seen as nationalists now and contributing to king and country. The War-Worker (Source D) was a magazine published in 1917; it shows a man and a woman both holding the flag showing that they are united. The contents of this magazine were evenly split between both masculine and feminine stories. This would have had a lot of impact as men would have been able to see and appreciate that without women the country would have been in turmoil. As the war continued women proved themselves even further, the Suffragettes halted their campaign because it was the patriotic thing to do. Attitudes to women did have a significant change during the war, however, Rex Pope (Source E) thinks otherwise. He said that attitudes towards women didn’t change, although, they must of changed, even if it was only a small change as men were able to see that women could work and without them the war would not have been able to continue.
In conclusion, war was a huge turning point for women. The First World War gave women the chance to show their physical abilities and mentally: how they could cope without the men. However, at the beginning of the war attitudes towards women were still harsh, but they most definitely changed; they had to, women were no long the irrational ‘weaker sex’ any longer. How ironic that something as negative and disastrous as war could end on such a positive note for the women who had been desperately campaigning for what they were to receive in 1918 for over 40 years. Of course it would be wrong to say it was only due to the war that the women gained the right to vote. Yes, it was a huge factor of many as were the Suffragists and Suffragettes.
