Women were the unequal partner in the marriage as they were considered the property of their husbands who owned the home and wealth of their wives. The Married Women’s Property Acts of 1870 and 1882 gave a stepping stone to future reform. Wives, who were deserted or beaten by their husband, were granted maintenance and divorced women were given custody over their children by the 1886 Married Women’s Act, and the Guardianship of Infants Act. These acts paved the way for further development such as suffrage.
By, 1884 two-thirds of adult males had gained the vote, but all women like criminals and patients in lunatic asylums were denied the vote. Women claimed that Britain, the mother of democracy and parliament had an unjust and unbalanced the political system as under a representative government, the needs of a non represented group, like the women, will be neglected. The vote was also seen as a device which could be utilized to force the government to take women’s issues seriously.
Initially the press ignored women’s suffrage but after 1905 when Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney were arrested newspapers took more notice of suffragette activity. Although most newspapers like The Times, and The Daily Mirror, reported women’s activities in unsympathetic tone, there were papers like The Workman’s Times who supported women’s suffrage. In 1907 J. Francis began a weekly paper Women’s Franchise.
Male suffragists could not join the WSPU, thus founded the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage and the Men’s Federation for Women’s Suffrage, and this support encouraged women in their campaign.
During the First World War women filled many jobs that had belonged to men who had gone away to fight. Women worked as drivers and conductors on trains and buses and they helped in ammunition factories. During the war the government was forced to realize that they won the war because of the women. Christianity promotes equality, and women were encouraged by groups like Quakers and Nonconformists to get suffrage. In 1903, the campaign for women's suffrage was intensified by the founding of the Women's Social and Political Union. The WSPU - associated particularly with Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters.
In the years after 1870, women experienced a number of considerable changes to their lives. However despite success in changing the role and position of women in society for the better, there remained enough inequality for the feminists to want to wipe out. So by the beginning of the twentieth century the vote had become their major focus of attention.
Word Count: 650
Ans 2: In 1897 the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) was formed. The NUWSS, known as the suffragists, held public meetings, organised petitions, wrote letters to politicians, published newspapers and distributed free literature. The Women's Social and Political Union was formed in 1903 by a group of former members of the NUWSS in Manchester as they were no longer willing to restrict themselves to the constitutional methods favoured by the NUWSS. They resolved to limit their membership exclusively to women, to keep themselves absolutely free from party affiliation, and to be satisfied with nothing but action on their question. "Deeds, not Words" was their permanent motto. They were more aggressive and young and were called suffragettes.
Millicent Fawcett the leader of suffragists, believed in peaceful protest. She felt that any violence or trouble would persuade men that women could not be trusted to have the right to vote. Her game plan was patience and logical arguments. Fawcett argued that women could hold responsible posts in society such as sitting on school boards - but could not be trusted to vote; she argued that if parliament made laws and if women had to obey those laws, then women should be part of the process of making those laws;
In 1906 one an envoy of 300 women, representing over 125,000 suffragists, male and female, argued for women's suffrage with the Prime Minister, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. The younger suffragettes realized that the polite methods previously used by the older generation were achieving nothing and the only option left was to act up for the press. The suffragists restricted itself to peaceful demonstrations and more petitions but the suffragettes switched to hurling stones through windows and when caught the suffragettes refused to be fined and chose imprisonment instead. Once in prison, they went on hunger strikes. Marion Wallace, in 1909, became the first hunger striker other suffragettes quickly followed her lead; the strikes drew the press, and the public interests. Suffrage had thus become a national issue.
In 1910 the Conciliation Bill was drafted in Parliament and like the1913 the Franchise Reform Bill, was tossed out due to a bureaucratic slip-up. The suffragettes became dangerously frustrated and felt that they were left only to militant tactics and destroyed public and private property. They set arson to houses, seared golf courses with acid, burnt down sports pavilions, broke street lamps, stomped on flower beds, painted "Votes for Women" on the seats at Hampstead Heath, plugged up keyholes with lead pellets, slashed the cushions of train seats, staged false fire alarms, threw rocks at the windows of the Parliament building and houses of elected officials, severed telephone wires, blew up fuse boxes, placed bombs near the Bank of England, "hacked thirteen pictures in the Manchester Art Gallery.
These drastic measures ended on June 4, 1913, when Emily Davison, threw herself under the King's racehorse at Tattenham Center, toppling both the horse and the horse’s jockey. Davison became the movement's first, and only, true martyr
The coming of World War I interrupted the women's suffrage movement. As in most countries, the women of Great Britain took the jobs the soldiers left behind. The suffragettes patriotically suspended all militancy during the war, and undertook responsibilities, such as working in munitions factories, hospitals, and municipal offices. Two days after the British government declared war on Germany on 4th August 1914, the leader of the Suffragists, Millicent Fawcett declared that it was suspending all political activity until the conflict was over although the NUWSS supported the war effort, it did not follow the WSPU strategy of becoming involved in persuading young men to join the armed forces
Word Count: 470
Ans 3: During the 4 years of war, Britain saw some great political and social changes which were responsible for women’s suffrage. Women contribution to the war is one of the factors which influenced Parliaments decision to give women suffrage.
The war brought about a change in attitude towards women and in the attitude of women towards themselves. Public opinion began to accept that women deserved a reward for their war efforts. Upper and middle class women believed they had won the right to independence. Working class women who had done men's jobs successfully now realised that they should not be thought of as second-class workers. Women became an established part of the workforce and set up their own trade unions. On the 10th August the government announced it was releasing all suffragettes from prison, due to outbreak of war. In return, the WSPU agreed to end their militant activities and help the war effort. As men left jobs to fight overseas, they were replaced by women. Octavia Wilbertorce and Louisa Martindale from Brighton worked as doctors treating wounded British soldiers. Women filled many jobs brought into existence by wartime needs. As a result the number of women employed increased from 3,224,600 in July, 1914 to 4,814,600 in January 1918. Nearly 200,000 women were employed in government departments. Half a million became clerical workers in private offices. Women worked as conductors on trams and buses. A quarter of a million worked on the land. The greatest increase of women workers was in engineering. Over 700,000 of these women worked in the highly dangerous munitions industry. There was a particular demand for women to do heavy work such as unloading coal, stoking furnaces and building ships. It can be said that if Britain won the war it was primarily due to the women. Such an effort proved that women were mature enough for suffrage. On the other hand there were also many other factors which were included in the decision to give women the vote.
During the war government realized that there was a need for franchise reform as the voting system required voters to live in the same place for twelve months before an election, so if an election was called most soldiers would not be able to vote. To discuss this The Speaker’s Conference took place, and although it contained no women there were many supporters of women’s suffrage, so votes for women were assured of a sympathetic hearing.
There were also a number of great changes in Parliament which altered the balance between those who opposed and those who were in favour of women’s suffrage. Balfour, Bonar Law and Arthur Henderson all of whom supported women’s suffrage, were promoted to the Cabinet, replacing less sympathetic men. More importantly Lloyd George who was sympathetic to women’s suffrage replaced Asquith as Prime Minister.
The war allowed a number of hostile MPs an excuse to change their strong stance against women’s suffrage which now seemed untenable and invalid. These MP’s, although were not completely supportive of women’s suffrage, realized that reform was inevitable and thus used the war effort as a pretext to recant and to save face
The suffragettes’ militancy is the one of the main factors women’s suffrage was achieved in 1918. Although before the war the suffragettes’ militancy angered many and seemed as if it would delay the enfranchisement process, it was necessary to threaten the government out of a stalemate and into a state of action. The women by throwing off Victorian ideals created a new identity and a new place in society for themselves.
Parliament realised that women’s suffrage was going to be achieved, as it was eventual. They used the war as a excuse to give women the right to vote. However if women had not contributed to the war effort with the fervor that they did, parliament may not have had an excuse. It is for all of the above reasons that I partially agree with the statement.
Word Count: 580
