Women over 30 gained the vote in 1918 mainly because of women's contribution to the war effort. Do you agree?

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Question 3 – Women over 30 gained the vote in 1918 mainly because of women’s contribution to the war effort. Do you agree?

In 1867 the women’ suffrage campaigns started and the Suffragettes and Suffragists began to campaign for votes for women. However, at the outbreak of the war in 1918, the votes for women campaigns ended and the two groups turned all their efforts into fighting the war effort. As more men were called up to fight more jobs needed filling and women were given the chance to expand their skills and show they were just as good as men.

During the First World War, both the Suffragettes and the Suffragists stopped campaigning for the vote and began to help with the war effort. To show how much the war meant Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst gave the WSPU’s funds to the government – to be used in the war effort. Members of both parties took up jobs, as many men were away fighting in the war it meant there were not enough to do vital jobs. The jobs where opened to women, who were happy to take them and then they proved they could do them just as well as men. Jobs that women undertook during the war consisted of bus conductors, drivers, postal workers, farm labourers and coal deliverers. As well as the jobs that where vital to keeping the country running women also took up jobs that were related specifically to helping the war effort. These specific jobs where working in munitions factories and engineering workshops. Some women also joined women’s branches of the arms forces and worked as nurses in military hospitals. By doing work which helped Britain and the allies win the war, women had proved that they were just as important as men to public life as well as home life. Women also felt a sense of gratitude for their efforts and contribution. The new attitude which women felt after the war had changed compared to before the war. A lot of people also remember the Suffragettes campaigns and felt it was unfair that women had been denied full political rights.

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By using the White Feather they began encouraged young men to go to war. The white feather was a symbol of cowardice among young men during the war. It was given by women to men out of uniform. The suffragettes and suffragists handed out white feathers, this showed how they had changed there campaign from votes for women, and towards helping Britain win the war.

By the end of the war the government had had dramatic changes. One being that Herbert Asquith was no longer the prime minister and now Lloyd George had become Britain’s new prime ...

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