got the vote 4 years later, so it is questionable that these campaigns were still having an impact in 1918.
It is clear that these campaigns highlighted the issue and if it were not for them then the suffrage of
women would not have been debated in 1918. Therefore the campaigns of the Suffragists and the
Suffragettes did contribute to women gaining the right to vote but they were not a major factor.
When war was declared, the Suffragists suspended suffrage activities, calling upon its members to
support the war effort. Consequently, the Suffragettes abandoned their violent methods and began
demonstrating their patriotic loyalty and their deservedness of the vote. Emily Pankhurst even threw
herself into a vigorous campaign in which the defeat of Germany took priority over women’s suffrage.
Pankhurst, along with her daughter, Christabel were great assets in promoting the war effort. At home
they called for military conscription for men, industrial conscription for women and the abolition of trade
unions. Women of all social classes were absorbed into the war effort. Many upper class and middle
class women experienced their first taste of paid work during the war, entering occupations that would
have been deemed unsuitable in peacetime. In comparison, working class women did not go out to
work because of the war. They had to work anyway. However, the nature of their occupation did
change because of the war, as they were provided with an alternative to the grossly exploitative job of
domestic service. Women replaced men as bus drivers, window cleaners, chimney sweeps, etc.
Women undoubtedly kept Britain on its feet during wartime, they played a large role in recruitment and
they readily accepted potentially dangerous jobs for the war effort.
With women’s outstanding behaviour and contribution to the war effort and the fact that women’s
franchise came at the end of the war makes it easy for us to assume that they achieved the vote as a
reward for their efforts. If this is the case then what is not understandable is the fact that only women
over 30 gained the right to vote when the majority of female workers were between 18 and 30, this
indicates that this was not the main reason for women’s franchise.
Up to this point, it can be said that the hard work of the Suffragettes and Suffragists during the war,
ended the spectre of militancy and conferred respectability on the suffrage cause. This showed women
involved in the suffrage movement were capable of defending democracy and having responsibility. It
was supposed that women were enfranchised because the war had changed masculine perceptions
about women’s role in society. For the first time women were accepted into the world of work, which
ultimately led to their acceptance in the public world of politics. Women were being seen as more and
more equal to men and they showed that they could perform as well as men and be trusted with more
responsibility because of their actions during the war.
If women achieved the vote in 1918 because of a realisation of equality from men, because of their
war effort, then again the fact that only over 30’s were given the vote comes into question. If men now
saw women as equals then why could men vote at the age of 21 whilst women had to wait until they
were 30? This shows that men did not see women as equals. Therefore a realisation of equality through
the war effort cannot be the main contributing factor to women gaining the right to vote, however it may
have been a tentative step towards it as real equality with men was almost established at this time.
Some historians believe that women were enfranchised because of the threat of renewed Suffragette
aggression once the war had finished. The Government had some other big issues on their hands like
what to do with Germany after the war and also the Irish question was beginning to occupy the
politician’s attention more. They could no longer put up with these issues as well as the militancy of the
Suffragettes so they could end one problem with giving women the vote. They were scared that these
campaigns would become more and more militant if they did not give Suffragettes the right to vote and
this would just create ever-increasing problems.
If the fear of renewed militancy from the Suffragettes was a factor in women achieving the right to
vote then it is certain that the Government would not let anyone know that this is the case. If they did
this then it would make them seem weak to violence and civil disobedience so other protestors would
adapt similar techniques. Therefore, it is hard to judge how influential the fear of renewed Suffragette
militancy was, however, I believe that the Government were not too concerned with this and it did not
have much of an impact. I believe this because it seemed that when the Suffragettes turned more
militant it was seen to damage the campaign rather than to be beneficial.
Examining women’s suffrage and the war from the perspective of parliamentary politics is also of
relevance to this question. After all, for over fifty years before the war, an all male parliament was
reluctant to enfranchise women but by the end of the war, politicians had changed their minds. Reasons
for the shifts occurring in government thinking between 1914 and 1918 are therefore in need of
addressing.
Firstly, there was a need for franchise reform in general. The existing franchise law required men
who qualified as householders to have occupied a dwelling for at least a year prior to an election.
Consequently, large numbers of armed forces were ineligible to vote because they no longer held or
had never had a twelve-month residency. Clearly this was a major problem, however, it also gave
Prime Minister David Lloyd George the chance to pass an act over women’s suffrage. They were going
to have to change the criteria for the vote anyway so by tacking women’s suffrage on with it meant that
they did not have to create a completely new Bill just for women. This also meant that there would be
less people opposed to the Bill, as they would not argue against it as the Bill included the voting rights
for millions of soldiers returning from the Western Front.
Furthermore, fears that one party might benefit from women’s suffrage were laid to rest. The
enfranchisement of some eight million women did not present an advantage to any one political party.
The Liberals and the Labour Party thought that the new proposed female electorate was much too
large and socially mixed to give any advantage to the Conservatives. Yet the Conservatives recognised
that this time adult male suffrage was unavoidable and so had little to lose- and perhaps something to
gain- by women over thirty, who were thought to be politically moderate, to be included. Also the fact
that they were over 30 meant that people who opposed women’s suffrage because of fears that they
were too emotionally unstable to cope with the vote were not relevant as women were more mature at
this age. They were also married so they would ask their husbands for advise with whom to vote for.
The fact that the Government had to pass a Bill on voting rights anyway was a large contributor to
women receiving the vote in 1918. This meant that a separate Bill was not created just for women and
that there would be little opposition as the Bill included the enfranchisement of millions of men returning
from France. They only gave the vote to over 30’s however as many men still had sexist attitudes that
women were not responsible enough to have this right. By giving it to over 30’s the women would have
become more responsible and, more importantly, most would be married so they could seek advise
from their husbands on who to vote for.
In conclusion, it is simply naive to believe that women only received the vote due to services
tendered in the war but along with other factors as well. Only women over thirty were given the vote
and they were not the ones who made the most substantial contribution towards the war. Indeed young
women such as those working in the munitions factories were actually denied the vote. Therefore, the
significance of women’s war work in the achievement of the vote is perhaps not as great as first
assumed.
Another point to consider is that women may well have been granted the vote because the
Suffragists and Suffragettes had campaigned so effectively before the war. This suggests that the pre-
war suffrage movement prepared the ground for votes for women. However, their campaigns had not
been successful by 1914 and they then achieved the vote after 4 years without protesting, this indicates
that this was not a major factor.
The early suffrage campaigns put the issue in the newspapers and many campaigners were convinced
that their campaigns would become successful. When the war came they had to postpone their
campaigns but this meant that they could now show their responsibility and they hoped that if they
behaved then the Government would give them the vote as a reward. This is not the case as many
women under 30 contributed to the war effort but were refused the right to vote. Women’s role in war
was a catalyst for their campaign as it gave them the chance to show responsibility and the view was
now that women could be trusted with the vote. When the Government had to change the criterion for
voting it gave the perfect chance for the Government to include women’s suffrage in the Reform Bill.
I believe that the fact that the Government had to pass a Reform Bill on the criteria for franchise is
the main contributing factor to women achieving the vote in 1918. The earlier suffrage campaigns had
made women’s suffrage a major political issue and this meant that when the new Reform Bill was
passed women’s suffrage was taken into consideration. The Government knew that it was an issue that
needed resolving and they did not want a renewal of the Suffragette militancy (therefore this factor did
have a slight impact) so they decided to attach it to the Bill in order to negate the problem. By attaching
it to another Bill there was also little risk of opposition as the Bill included the voting rights of millions of
soldiers returning from France.
The reason that only women over 30 got the vote as a result of many sexist views opposing
women’s franchise because they saw women as irresponsible and a liability. Women over 30 were
usually married so they could ask their husband for advice on whom to vote for, women were now also
generally seen as more responsible though because of their attitude and effort throughout the war.
By David Alison