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

together all of the independent, small suffrage groups and called them the NUWSS, this group held the motto  make haste slowly with persuasion  and in keeping with their motto they tried to make progress by using leaflets, marches and a weekly newspaper. The main achievement of the NUWSS is that of making the suffrage movement a national issue but despite there hard and long drawn efforts, they made a very small impact. Despite gaining up to 50% of Mps support, they never got their bill through and therefore made no political progress; they were strongly criticized by the Suffragettes by their lack of retaliation and for appearing to be weak. The suffragettes on the other hand believed they should take a more radical action; they did things such as breaking shop windows and rioting. They had shown that women where clearly determined to gain the vote. As there methods continued they gave the government more time to respond and the longer they waited the more violent there actions became. During many of the riots, many Suffragettes where sent to prison. Whilst in prison many went on hunger strike, to once again drill up support and make themselves political prisoners: however this caused them to have brutal treatment in the prisons such as force feeding, these actions just increased. By 1914 the government had run out of ideas how to deal with them but they where forced to call of the campaign due to the start of the war. They had caused the message to get across however this could have possibly created a stereotype of women and beeCHNKWKS føÿÿÿÿTEXTTEXTDUFDPPFDPPXFDPCFDPCZFDPCFDPC\STSHSTSH^STSHSTSH^2SYIDSYIDP^SGP SGP d^INK INK h^BTEPPLC l^BTECPLC „^ FONTFONT¤^tSTRSPLC _:PRNTWNPRR_TFRAMFRAM¦cˆTITLTITL.dDOP DOP BdFawcett brought together all of the 1918: the year women over the age of 30 years were granted the right to vote. The reason for this was an amalgamation of effort from the Suffragists, Suffragettes, the political battle and the women s war effort, during the first world war. One of these reasons however proved to be superior and it was that of the war effort, as although the other reasons made progress, they took decades and nothing significantly changed. It is conceivable, however, that without the intervention of the first world war, the suffrage movement would have been successful, or they may have even been a political breakthrough. In this essay I am hoping to address this issue and  decide whether my initial suspicion - that the war was the main reason, for women getting the vote - is correct, or whether it was indeed a different effort, that meant that they achieved their right to vote.        During the 1800s there were, of course many women who desperately wanted their right to vote and there was, of course many little groups set up to try and achieve this, but the groups were very small, with very little support and therefore they achieved nothing. In 1897, however the NUWSS was set up and later, in 1903 the breakaway group - the WSPU - was also set up. Despite these two groups using very different tactics and having very different attitudes towards the movement, they both shared the same sole ambition - to achieve the right to vote. The Suffragists were predominantly made up of upper class women, who believed the stereotypical woman was that of an elegant  princess  - therefore they used tactics which reflected this, using marches, leaflets and speeches to drum up support. The Suffragettes, on the other hand were a lot more heavy handed and when they met resistance abandoned the elegant tacn an argument to why they should not get the vote. The liberal government at the time claimed to have bigger issues to deal with at the time and did not give into the violence: people soon began to become convinced that women where mentally unstable and this undermined the Suffragists  achievements. The suffrage groups, on the whole threw the movement into the media and made it a more publicized movement but despite this, in the 50 years that they campaigned over, they barely made any progress. It is conceivable that the boisterous but rather aggressive tactics of the Suffragettes worked against the slow and subtle methods of the Suffragists, it is even conceivable that if their campaigns weren t put on hold for the war either one of the groups would have been successful: the facts are though, both groups despite over five decades of effort and campaigning they mad no significant contribution to the cause apart form the publicizing of it.         When the  Great War  broke out, most men in the UK were forced to go and fight for their country abroad; most of these men were those of ordinary men working on buses, in factories, in shops and all other aspects of economy. When they left there was inevitably a lot of jobs to be filled, to keep the UK running functionally. Not only where there huge demands for workers in these jobs but also in ammunition factories, as with most men fighting the countries ammunition supply was dwindle and there was no men to make any more. Prior to the war there was a mere 82,589 women working in munitions factories, after a hugely successful war march in 1915, another 78,000 women had volunteered. At the end of the war this number had grown to a phenomenal 1,587,300! This was mainly due to Lloyd George, who left his job as Exchequer to take the new role of Minister of Munitions. He had also encouraged the  right to work  which was a march help by the Suffragette: Christabel Pankhurst. The munitions work was extremely dangerous and women who worked where put under physical and mental pressure: this made people realise that women could work just as well as men. The government had agreed with trade unions that during the war semi-skilled women or unskilled women could take the place of jobs usually done by skilled men; this caused jobs to increase from 4.83 million to 6.19 million. In the later war years, the government used propaganda posters which showed women as patriotic and brave; generally as an important role in society. With women now having jobs thus a wage, they could now afford to buy their own, personal items. Women now had to fill job vacancies such as police women, plumbers, brick making and ship building: they also created their own trade unions, to ensure equality in the workplace. Women s also had jobs in the military, this included nurses; women s auxiliary services; the women s royal navy and the women s royal air force. This proved to the government and to men that women could play the same role in society and could work just as hard: they used this to their advantage, claiming that if they played the same role in society then they too deserved the right to decided which government governed it and therefore they should have the right to vote. The war meant that women now had an input into society and the government therefore had to listen to them. It also proved to the government that women could put the same amount into society as men and therefore deserved the same political input. Unlike the suffrage movement, there was a clear improvement in their social position - it is therefore conceivable that the women s input into the war effort had more of an effect in regards to women getting the vote, then the Suffragists and Suffragettes.        In 1916 the genera election was due to take place, but many men fighting in different countries and therefore could not vote; in actual fact one in five men could not vote in the army based on unbroken occupation of property for one year. With so many men unable vote there had to be a change in the voting system otherwise the elections had to be cancelled, therefore in 1916 a committee of MPs discussed changes in the voting system called the speakers conference. The suffragettes had demanded that women should be including in any new list of voters, if men where given the same opportunity because they had contributed so much to the war effort. In January 1917 it was reported that the Property qualification law should be dropped and that the vote should be given to some women; in February 1918 the people act was finally passed where men over 21 had the right to vote and so did all women over 30 were given the vote if they or their husband owned or occupied land or a property. 8.5 million women had gained the vote due to this. Due to 750,000 men dying in the first world war, women made up a much larger percentage of the population, therefore the new women would largely out number men and therefore be in a position to decide the outcome of the election, therefore only women over the age of 30 were given the vote. In 1918 the first election where women could vote was held, many observers where surprised to see how many women had gathered to vote. Labour had lost nearly 2.5 million votes at the expense of the independent liberal party led by Asquith; shortly after this an act was passed for women to be able to become MPs in November 1918. This political advancement meant that women had now achieved their goal - of being able to vote in the general election. Although it was this political breakthrough that actually meant that women could vote, it is plausible that without the women s contribution to the war and the respect they gained with that, then they would not have been added to the new voting system.        The suffrage groups where the beginning of  united and recognized movement; they started to make people realise that women wanted the vote. They didn t however actually make any significant difference and only small progress - in the end they did not gain the vote, only influenced it. Despite this they had done a great deal to keep the campaign for women s suffrage alive. Women during the war however, did completely the adverse. They abandoned the movement so that they could put all of their effort into the war, in doing this they ensured many people had to see that women could do the same things as men and put the same amount into society. Despite all of their effort, they still did not get the vote. In the end it was the political battle and the general lack of eligible voters in the UK that ensured they got the vote. In my opinion it was the war that was the main reason for the women getting the vote. Although the other factors were definitely major causes, the war offered the biggest progress and made the most significant difference. It was the women s contribution to the war that meant that they were now seen as equal to men, in relation to their economical and social input into the country. Although the suffrage groups were the beginning, they did not make a very big difference and the politicians would not have fought hard for the women, if they had not proved themselves during the war.By Zak ArdenWomen over the age of 30 gained the vote in 1918 mainly because of women s contribution to the war effort, do you agree?een added to the new voting system.        As .        The suSuffragists and the Suffragettes undoubtly bÒt%<;$K8VRVDWüôôüüüÌÌ(2‚"'(Š  Û)Û @·S        ·'Ò" $ 4 6 Žî: < t%v%N,„,†, ,¢,¤3¦34 4^4`4”4–4<:>:<;>;^CVD$J&J$K&KîMðM6V8Vðʤʤʤʤʤðʤʤʤʤʤʤʤʤð¤Ê¤Ê¤Ên8n& "ì„"        $Šˆ6 "º�"        $Š$ 08ˆ6 "º�"        $Š$ 08ˆ& "º�"        $Šˆ& "º�"        $Šˆ "º�"        8VPVRVâVäVBWDWÚʤ~¤t "        & "ˆ¶"        $Šˆ& "ˆ¶"        $Šˆ "PS"        & "PS"        $Šˆ ôñ9ÿÿÿÿôñ9 "ð "ttDWX8VDWZ\`ôñ9 0PTimes New RomanBrowallia NewArialÿ*y " " "¤øä˜ÈÈü0Faxœ`&ê odÈÈLetterDfaxwinspoolFaxSHRFAX:Fÿÿÿ"\²"€‘"ÑV"à"ð`        "ð``""A."@ÿÿÿ"\²"ðù"ÑV"ì        "ð`        "ð``"."Final.wps"Øp"Øpp ("         and social input into the country. 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