Women decided to stop campaigning when the First World War started, so that they could prove themselves as workers in doing jobs that only men could do before, but now could not because they were fighting. The work that they did was resented by some men because they were worried that women would completely take over jobs in industry, but suffragettes were getting much more respect from the government because of the work that they were doing. The jobs consisted of work towards the war, such as work towards the munition factories. On average they were doing these jobs just as well, or sometimes better, than men were doing them before.
Women were now keeping the money that they earned, as opposed to it being given to the husband or father. This meant that when the war had finished some men were not householders, and therefore did not have the right to vote, and of course women were not allowed to vote, so there was a very small amount of people voting! Women saw this as a window of opportunity, and carried on the campaign for suffrage.
Another factor that helped women to get suffrage was international trend. By 1918 Denmark, New Zealand and Norway had already given women the vote, and Britain did not want to seem out of step. They decided to make a change in parliament when they replaced some anti-women’s suffrage MPs with those who were pro-women’s suffrage. Women would be more likely to vote for these MPs, and therefore it would no longer look like they were giving in to the demands of the NUWSS (National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies) and the WSPU (Women’s Social and Political Union). After all, it is a government policy never to give in to any forms of terrorists, which in some ways the suffragettes were.
Was women's contribution to the First World War the main contributor to women over 30 gaining suffrage in 1918? I do not think it was. The war was a chance to prove themselves by doing something that would be respected. So of course it was a major factor, but I do not think it was the main factor. A lot of women who were working in the war were working class, and they still did not receive the vote. This was because the government believed that married women would vote as their husbands did, and the working class were more likely to vote Labour. I think that women’s contribution to the war speeded up changes that were already taking place because parliament was no longer afraid of looking bad if they gave women the vote, but I do not think it was the main factor.
