Women and the Vote

Asim Macci Women and the Vote

11R Assignment 2 History Coursework

INTRODUCTION

The right to vote (suffrage) in general elections was given to women over thirty years of age in 1918. This new law was passed by Parliament at the end of the First World War (1914 – 1918). Some women had been campaigning for women’s right to vote many years before the war started. ‘Suffragists’, was the name given to those women who campaigned peacefully for this; ‘Suffragettes’ was the name given to those women who used violence in their campaigns to secure the vote.

The Suffragettes produces eye-catching posters, organised demonstrations, broke shop windows, chained themselves to railings and set fire to post-boxes. Fights with police sometimes broke out and, when arrested and imprisoned, some women went on hunger strike.

When war against Germany broke out in August 1914, the Suffragettes stopped their campaigning and threw their support behind the war effort. They encouraged men to join the army and appealed to women to take over the work of men while they were away fighting.

In this assignment I will be investigating why the right to vote was granted to some women in 1918.

QUESTIONS

Question 1. Study Source A

What can you learn from Source A about the reasons given by the Suffragettes for demanding votes for women? (6 marks)

Source A is a Suffragette Poster produced in 1912. The purpose of this poster is to educate everyone about the fact the most ‘Democratic’ country in the World at this time is not quite as ‘democratic’ as we may all think. The poster shows that if a woman is a Mayor, a Nurse, a Mother, a Doctor, a Teacher or a Factory Hand they are still not allowed to vote. However it shows men who are allowed to vote despite being Convicts, Lunatics, Drunkards, Unfit for Service (Disabled) and even a Proprietor of white slaves.

From studying Source A, I have learned about the reasons given by the Suffragettes for demanding votes for women. One of these reasons are that if a women has achieved a high political or social status she is still not granted the vote however the men classed in the lowest section of the social hierarchy are allowed to vote in elections. This is because of the fact that it is women in general that are not allowed to vote weather it be a women at the top of the social hierarchy or a women at the bottom of the social hierarchy. But all men in general are allowed to vote including the men at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Here the suffragettes are arguing that women at the top of the social hierarchy have been placed under the men at the bottom of the social hierarchy because the men at the bottom of the social hierarchy have a privilege that the women have not yet earned, this classes them under the men. Many women have positions of great responsibility yet some men declared that women are not responsible enough to vote. So they are saying that a woman is responsible enough to become mayor but not responsible enough to vote, so she could be voted for but not vote for others. Again this proves that England at the time is not as democratic as the people of the time thought it to be by illustrating the hypocrisy of the argument that women are not responsible enough.

Another reason is that the men displayed in the poster do not deserve the vote or are in no condition to vote. The men that do not deserve to vote are Convicts and Proprietors of white slaves. The men that are in no condition to vote are Lunatics, Men unfit for Service (Disabled) and Drunkards. However there are women that should be allowed to vote because of their social status or because the vote affect them. The women that should be allowed to vote because of their social status are the women that are Mayors, Nurses, Teachers or Doctors. The women that should be allowed to vote because the vote affects them are Mothers and Factory Hands. Here the suffragettes are arguing that even if a women needs to vote she cannot be a man who does not deserve to vote (because of irrational behaviour) could.

I have also noticed about the one sided nature of this poster. This source, source A only talks of the fact that women deserve the vote and are not getting it, it does not refer to the point of view of men, so hence it is a bias source. If this source provided the point of view of men then we would have been able to see and know the reason why women were not granted the vote. It only shows women in the positive light and men in a more negative light.

Question 2. Study Sources B and C

Does Source B support the evidence of Source C about the Suffragettes campaign? Explain your answer. (8 marks)

Yes, Source B does support the evidence of Source C. This is because they both agree with each other saying that the Suffragettes are hindering the cause rather than helping it. They both say that violence; intimidation and blackmail are not the way of campaigning for the vote.

Source B is part of a speech by Lloyd George that he said during the debate on the bill to grant female suffrage in May 1913. Its purpose was to inform the rest of parliament that the suffragettes should not be rewarded for their behaviour. It argues that the violence of the suffragettes should not be rewarded and their method of campaigning is the worst. If they were to use peaceful methods like the suffragists then men would be more likely to grant women the vote. However women had been peacefully campaigning for the vote for 30 years (before the Suffragettes) and had not been given the vote.

Source C is a cartoon that was drawn by Bernard Partridge in 1906. It shows two women, who are both campaigners for female suffrage, but one of them is a suffragette and the other is a suffragist. The women are outside the place where the next “Liberal Democrat” Meeting is to be held. The suffragette is about to hit the sign saying when the meeting is. The caption to this cartoon reads: ‘THE SHRIEKING SISTER’. The suffragist, who is described as a sensible woman, says: ‘YOU help our cause? Why, you’re its worst enemy!’

The evidence shown in ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

The evidence shown in Source C is that everyone feels that the violence of the Suffragettes is unnecessary and instead of helping the cause they are hindering it by gaining bad media attention. These views are even shared by the Suffragists. Source B says that the Suffragettes have still not yet understood that their method of campaigning is the worst method of earning the vote. The worst method is to try and intimidate or blackmail a man into giving them (suffragettes) what he would gladly give them if they asked him peacefully. I have also noticed that Source C has a more negative tone than Source B towards/regarding Suffragettes. It shows that people are angry at how the Suffragettes are campaigning. However Source B does show anger towards the Suffragettes and gives us a negative opinion of them but it does not do so to the extent of which Source C does.

I believe that Source B supports the evidence shown in Source C because if the government were to grant the Suffragettes what they wanted (the vote) then it would encourage other protest groups to use a form of violence to fight their campaign because if it worked for the Suffragettes then it must work for them. This would then turn into terrorism and the Protest group would turn into a Terrorist group. Another reason why I believe that the government did not grant the suffragettes the vote is because if they did then if would make the government look weak because they are giving up to the Suffragettes and are not fighting back. I also believe that both sources are trying to say that violence is not the key and that if you punch someone it will not make them like you but will make them dislike you. I think that sometimes the Suffragettes were more like enemies to female suffrage than allies.

I have also found out that the sources do not seem sympathetic towards women suffrage because they both give a negative opinion of the campaign of the Suffragettes. If I were a man living in the time of the Suffragettes campaign, I also personally would not feel sympathetic towards women’s suffrage because of their use of violence, I would feel threatened by this and therefore vote against giving women suffrage. On the other hand both the sources also seem to show a little sympathy towards women’s suffrage, because they are indirectly showing them the right way to campaign, which would achieve them their goal, female suffrage.

Question 3. Study Sources D and E and use your own knowledge.

Why, despite the Suffragette activity, had women not gained the vote by the outbreak of the First World War? (12 marks)

Women had not gained the vote by the outbreak of the First World War. This was because the violence of the Suffragettes actually turned the public against the female suffrage campaign rather than attracting more people. Source D says that as soon as the public is behind the Suffragette campaign, the government would grant women the vote. Source D also says that the Suffragettes only fight for their campaign because in 1906 when they had the most support the government declined their proposal to grant women the vote. Source E says that if the government gives the vote to women then the government will ultimately give women the control of government and give them the right to vote.

Source D is a Part of a book called ‘My Own Story’ by Emmeline Pankhurst, one of the leading Suffragettes. It is her autobiography and was written in 1912. Its purpose is to educate the reader about Emmeline’s struggle in her campaign of female suffrage for the Suffragettes. The source biased and because of this could contain some inaccurate points. At the time this book may not have been popular, not because of its content but because of its author. People living at the time might not have appreciated this book because Emmeline Pankhurst wrote it, hence they would not have read it. This book also might have a lack of objectivity because it was written at a time of sorrow for Emmeline Pankhurst – she was in prison. The extract says that the violence used by the Suffragettes made female suffrage a matter of news – and this was the first time that articles on the female suffrage campaign had made front page stories. It also says that as soon as public opinion swings in the direction of the Suffragettes, the government would grant women the vote. When the public is educated only then will women be granted the vote, but in 1906 when the female suffrage campaign had its highest public support, they called upon the government to grant them the vote, but the government declined. This is the reason why the Suffragettes use forms of violence to intimidate the government into granting them the vote. The peaceful method took very long and did not work, so now they must fight for their cause. Hence, one reason given in source D for women’s suffrage not happening before 1914 is that those in power were not committed to allowing this to happen.

Source E is a Part of a speech given by a Member of Parliament in 1913. Its purpose is to argue that government do not want to give women the vote because if they do then women could potentially control the government. It says that the speaker has no hesitation in voting against the principle of giving the vote to women. In giving women the right to vote they (the government / parliament) will ultimately put the control of the government of this country into female hands.

I also believe that Source E does essentially give the same reason as Source D. This is that once the public are in favour of Female Suffrage then the Government would give the vote to women because this is what the majority of the country would vote and if Parliament does not grant female suffrage then in the next general election they would be voted out for another Government that would grant female suffrage. However I also feel that source E shows that the men in power were a major factor in women not having achieved the vote. This is because they feared the consequences in giving women such power.

Women had not been granted the right to vote before the breakout of the First World War because of the campaign of the Suffragettes. The Suffragettes used forms of violence to fight for their cause of female suffrage and because of this the Suffragettes gained negative media attention so instead of gaining public support they actually lost support. Now that the group was a little smaller the government did not grant them the vote because the government felt as if the Suffragette’s campaign and female suffrage was no more a high priority topic in the agenda of the meetings and debates held at parliament. Also the men in power were intransigent and unwilling to move any further in the debate of female suffrage.

The fact that female suffrage was no longer a high priority topic in the House of Commons since only 10 % of the people were actually in favour of votes for women. This was due to the work done by the Anti-Suffrage League and about the fact that women were not united in this cause. The Anti-Suffrage League campaigned against votes for women. The fact that women were not united in this cause meant that there was no strength in numbers; there were not enough women. This was also another reason why female suffrage was not granted at the time. The Liberal Party at the time had other problems/issues such as granting Ireland ‘Home Rule’ which means self-government and the increasing poverty in Britain to worry about a few crazy women wanting to vote. Also the Liberal Government was aware of the rising tensions in Europe and the possible out break of World War I.

Question 4. Study Sources F and G.

How useful are these two sources as evidence for the contribution to the war effort in the years 1914 – 1918? (10 marks)

Both Sources F and G are very useful as evidence for the contribution to the war effort in the years 1914 – 1918 made by women. However both the Sources have limitations to the extent to which they could provide information.

Source F is a propaganda poster produced by the government in 1916. Its purpose is to attract women to work in the munitions factories for the government and to show everyone that woman who were one fighting against the government are now working with the government helping the British war effort. It shows a woman possible a pre – suffragette working in a munitions factory, she is wearing glamorous clothing, which makes her look glamorous. The woman is superimposed over a man fighting on the frontline giving the impression that she has done something to help her country in cause of the war. The text at the bottom reads “Women Munitions Workers Enrol at once.”

The context of Source F is that at the time those men who had gone off to fight the war had died and the men working back home in factories were sent to the frontline to fight. This left a shortage of factory workers back home. As a result the government decided to recruit women to fill the rolls of men in the factories, however women were disliked by the men still working in the factories (perhaps they were too old to fight) and because of this the government made their propaganda look glamorous and attractive for women. However working in a munitions factory also had a very negative side that many women were not aware of. In the factory you were exposed to harmful chemicals, which affect and damage your body. It turned many women’s skin yellow and also damaged many women’s sexual organs, making them infertile, now they cannot have babies anymore. It also does not tell us how many women enrolled as a result of this poster.

Source G is a table of statistics from a school textbook, published in the 1980’s. Its purpose is to inform us on the number of women employed in war related industries between 1914 and 1918 and also to show that there were more women employed in war related industries after the war than before it meaning that women did something to help their country, Britain fight the Germans in World War I. It shows that in 1914 there were 170,000 women employed in Metal Industries, 40,000 women employed in Chemical Industries, 2,000 women employed in Government Offices and 196,000 women employed in Food, Drink and Tobacco. However in 1918 there were 594,000 women employed in Metal Industries, 104,000 women employed in Chemical Industries, 225,000 women employed in Government Offices and 235,000 women employed in Food, Drink and Tobacco. These are significant increases.

Source F has quite a few limitations that restrict from giving us more information. It shows a woman working in a munitions factory contributing to the British war effort, however the poster does not show how much work this woman did. It also does not show whether or not any other women were working in the same factory as her or if she worked in the factory at all (she could just have been an ordinary woman that the government used for this propaganda poster).

The statistics in source G’s show that the contribution of women has increased from the years 1914 to 1918. It shows that the number of women working in war related industries increased during these years. The number of women working in Metal Industries in 1914 was 170,000 and in 1918 there were 594,000 women working in Metal Industries, this is an increase of 424,000. The number of women working in Chemical Industries in 1914 was 40,000 and in 1918 there were 104,000 women working in Chemical Industries, this is an increase of 64,000. The number of women working in Government Offices in 1914 was 2,000 and in 1918 there were 225,000 women working in Government Offices, this is an increase of 223,000. The number of women working in Food, Drink and Tobacco in 1914 was 196,000 and in 1918 there were 235,000 women working in Food, Drink and Tobacco, this is an increase of 39,000. These figures clearly show that the contribution of women to the British war effort grew largely between the years 1914 to 1918. However it does not show the figures for the years in between 1914 and 1918 also it does not show the data for other industries, so we do not know if all the numbers rose in the last year, the first year or gradually.

Source F alone does not show whether the propaganda poster had any affect at all however if it is backed up by the data from source G then we could infer that women were attracted by this propaganda poster and enrolled for work in a munitions factory. However I know from my own subject knowledge that women actually started to enrol from the beginning of the war.

On conclusion both sources F and G are very useful as evidence for the contribution of women to the war effort. However the limitations that exist within both sources obstructs us from getting all the vital information needing to understand this area of the topic better. So these sources are both very useful but only to an extent.

Question 5. Study Sources H, J and I and use your own Knowledge.

‘It was the work that women did during the war that earned them the vote’. Use the sources and your own knowledge, to explain whether you agree with this interpretation. (14 marks)

I believe that it was the work that women did during the war that contributed greatly into them earning the right to vote. Sources H, J and I agree with this. Source H says that the earning of suffrage has rewarded the efforts of women in the First World War. Source H says that same men appreciated the work that women did and therefore believe that women have earned their suffrage. Source I says that it was not only the war that gave women the vote but it was also the changes that occurred to the country and government during the time of war, the votes for women was one of those changes. Source J says that the only way to reward women for their contribution would be to reward them with the right to vote.

Source H is an extract of text from a history book called ‘Women’s Suffrage in Britain, 1867 – 1928’ written in 1980. Its purpose is to educate the reader on the hardships that women faced during the time they were at work and the fact that they earned their reward of the right to vote. It says that in newspaper reports of the time women workers received a warm welcome, but in farms, hospitals and factories they were greatly resented. The attitude of many male workers of the time was negative towards women at the time. Most men felt that women would be better off working as nurses and providers of refreshments for the troops and bringers up of the fighting men of the future. Even Politicians themselves agreed with the idea that the woman who had brought children up successfully had performed a service for the government, which could be rewarded by giving the vote to such loyal citizens. It also says that politicians agreed the age limit of 30 for woman because these women seemed to be more sensible and more likely to vote the same way as their husbands. The source also starts by saying that the most simplified view is that women over the age of 30 earned their suffrage from their wartime service. It also says that little change has resulted from the war. From this we could see that it was not only the work that women did during the war that earned them the vote and that there were other reasons for example we could infer that the government did not want the suffragettes to recommence their campaign of violence hence they granted women suffrage.

Source I contains text from a history book called ‘Women at War’ written in 1980. Its purpose is to inform the reader that it was not only the war that gave women the vote but it was also the changes that occurred to the country and government during the time of war, the votes for women was one of those changes. It says that to say that the war brought votes for women is to make a very rough generalisation, yet one that contains some truth. The question of women’s rights must not be isolated from other great social and political changes that were happening as a result of the war. During the four years of conflict a tremendous mood favourable to change had been created to the country and government. This shows that it was not only the women’s wartime effort that earned them the vote but it was also this tremendous mood of change. This also shows that Source H clashes with Source I because Source H says that very little change resulted from the war and Source I says that there was a tremendous mood of change because of the war. However both sources do agree with each other when they both say that it was something else that earned women suffrage and not only their wartime service. Using my own subject knowledge I know that there was a lot of change going on after the war and I believe that female suffrage was one of those changes. I also believe that what Source H says about very little change is false, and I could infer that this was put into the source to make us feel sympathetic towards women who wanted female suffrage.

Source J is a part of a speech by Herbert Asquith in the House of Commons in 1917. Asquith had been Prime Minister from 1908 to 1916 when he had opposed giving women the vote. Its purpose is to inform the reader about the fact that Asquith believes that the only way to reward the women for their contribution to the British war effort would be to reward them with the right to vote. It says that Asquith’s opposition to female suffrage is well known. However, for three years there has not been any violence from the Suffragettes. They contributed in every service during the war except fighting. Therefore he believes that some sort of suffrage should be given to the women. From this source I infer that Asquith believes that female suffrage should be given because he is terrified that the Suffragettes might recommence their terrible campaign of violence against the government. During Asquith’s time as Prime Minister Asquith experienced the violence of the Suffragettes and I believe that he is terrified that that the violence might start all over again. I believe this because Asquith was strongly against female suffrage and the tone he uses in this source suggests that he has changed his beliefs. From this one could infer that he is only changing his beliefs because he is afraid of the Suffragettes.

I believe that it was not only these short-term causes that earned women the right to vote, but it was also the long term factors such as their hard fought campaigning mainly by the Suffragists. The suffragists had been around since 1867 and they were the first to arise this topic into the political agenda. Had it not been for them then votes for women may not even had been an issue in the first place.

However there were also other long-term factors such as the violence of the suffragettes before the beginning of the war. The suffragettes had been campaigning for almost 10 years before the war started and because of their campaigning many of the citizens of the country felt fearful of them and some also felt that the government should give the women what they want so that they would not be in danger any more.

It was not only the Suffragettes who had been campaigning, for many years before the suffragettes were even formed, the suffragists had campaigned for female suffrage. However they were not as widely heard of as the suffragettes. This was because they did not use violence as their main form of protests; they used peaceful methods as friendly campaigning. The campaigning methods of the suffragettes were what got them noticed, as to some people they came out as a radical feminist movement. As the suffragists were ‘quiet’, they were not heard and therefore did not make much of an impact.

Other long term causes that lead to female suffrage being granted after the war were that before the was there was a lot of speculation about the building of armies and naval fleets, and many people feared that a war was going to break out. As a result politicians were more concerned about the prevention of the war than other matters, such as female suffrage.

When the war begun, to the relief of many politicians the suffragettes stopped their campaign of violence and focused on helping their country fight the war. This showed them as being nationalistic and having love and pride for their country. The government saw this and realised that they were like all other Britons and deserved the right to vote.

After examining all the sources, I have come to the conclusion that it was the contribution women made to the British war effort was a large factor in gaining them the right to vote. Another major factor that contributed to this reward was the fact that the Suffragettes withheld their campaign of violence for the duration of the war. I also believe that it was this tremendous mood of change that also earned women suffrage. These three major factors proved to government that women had earned their right to vote.

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