After the hard work put in by all women into the war, politicians wanted to reward them. Also, the role of women had changed after the war. They had proved they were equal to men by enduring the toughest jobs and were now no longer known to be frail and weak. Therefore the politicians knew they had to do something. In addition there was also a lot of propaganda to help women. For example after the war effort, one read, ‘Votes for heroines as well as for heroes.’
As the politicians in power were not very popular, opposing politicians took their opportunity by backing women’s suffrage. They supported women and knew they would gain popularity as now the whole country was beginning to support women. To further strengthen this, there was a cabinet reshuffle in which M.P’s Balfour, Bonar Law and Arthur Anderson were promoted to the cabinet. They were in favour of women’s’ suffrage and therefore this helped the cause of women.
Another point that helped women was the voting laws. This was because according to the franchise voting law, all males who wished to vote must have lived in their dwellings for at least a year before any election. Therefore the armed forces and soldiers who had been fighting abroad were ineligible to vote. Consequently this led to the all-party committee having to change the law in 1916 so that the armed forces and the soldiers could all vote. During this change the party also had to recommend to extend the vote to women over 30 after immense pressure from women.
There was also external pressure from other countries in the Commonwealth as the likes of New Zealand, Australia and Canada had already given the vote to women before the First World War. Therefore this was a very embarrassing time as Britain was considered the mother of democracy but had still not given women the vote. Even though women in New Zealand had been given the vote, people living there were split as some were for and some against. The people against women’s suffrage said that a good mother has no time to vote and that it is unwomanly. They also said that women would neglect their families if they got the vote. In response the people in favour of women getting the vote said that if every male drunkard can vote then why can’t women. Also they said that men don’t neglect women even though they vote. In addition they raised the point that all working women pay tax so why can’t they vote.
A point to be noted was that even when the all-party committee did allow women the vote, they only gave it to women over the age of 30. This was ironic because the women that had really helped during the war effort were infact mostly under the age of 30. Therefore they gave the vote to the women that were mostly married. This consequently meant that they would be voting with their husbands and therefore saying what their husbands said. This shows the politicians had been cunning in giving the vote, as all they wanted to do was just to show that they also had given the vote to women.
Along with the contribution to the war by women and the political expediency, there were also the actions of the suffragettes and suffragists. During the war they stopped campaigning just to help the war effort. This gained them a lot of support and sympathy. Moreover they threw themselves behind the war effort and this was seen as very patriotic. In addition to this they also put pressure on the politicians to give women the vote.
As they were helping the country during the war, the views of people about suffragettes and suffragist changed. The attitudes towards women generally improved as they were now much more respected. They had proved there worthiness and people had acknowledged this. Along with the respect, they also had a fear that the militancy of the suffragettes could return if their demands were not met and therefore the politicians were pressured to give the vote.
After analysing all the evidence and points of view, I have come to a conclusion that I agree with the statement but to a certain extent. It is right in saying that women over 30 gained the vote in 1918 because of women’s contribution to the war effort but this was not the main reason. The war effort was actually a short term trigger where as other reasons such as political expediency and the action of the suffragettes and suffragists were the long term reasons. It all gradually built up and the war effort just gave the final push over the finish line.
Jasmeet Singh 11x1 History -
