The changing position of women and the suffrage question. Revision notes

The Suffrage Debate

The Case for Votes for Women

• Rights for Women

• Early suffragists claimed they wanted a restoration of old rights rather than new privileges. Women had owned vast amounts of land in the medieval period as well as participating in the Parliamentary process. Women freeholders were also able to vote in the 16th century.
• Women attempted this approach in 1867 when large numbers of women registered to vote. However they were unable to vote and following an appeal in the Court of Commons, the women represented by Richard Pankhurst the judges ruled that ‘every woman is personally incapable of voting’
• Property rights had underpinned manhood suffrage, however when property qualifications were lowered in 1864 and 1867 and 30,000 agricultural workers now gained the vote regardless of property, women who held property argued that they should have representation in order to determine where their taxes were spent – ‘no taxation without representation’

• Growth of Democracy

• The reform acts of 1832, 1867 and 1884 removed many of the abuses of the Parliamentary system. However, women were explicitly removed from the democratic process. The 1832 Great Reform Act had referred to ‘male’ rather than ‘persons’. By 1884 two thirds of men could vote, but along with criminals and inmates of lunatic asylum’s women could not vote.
• Women’s participation in local and party politics suggested that women could be trusted with the vote. Women such as Florence Nightingale were cited as examples of how women could contribute to politics.

• Means to an end

• Suffragists argued that the right to vote would force Governments to take women’s issues more seriously. Arguing that women were routinely discriminated against in law, for instance, The Contagious Diseases Acts. The vote was seen as a mean to advance women’s both socially and economically. In 1872, suffragists alleged that nearly 3million unmarried women and 800,000 married women received wages far below their male counterparts. Similarly, women had been banned from some occupations such as coal mines (1842) and faced restricted working hours in some industries (including textiles from 1844)

The Case against Votes for Women

• The Right to Rule

• Some antis were opposed to all extensions of the franchise, not specifically just against the extension of the franchise to include women as any increase in democracy would lead to what Asquith deemed as rule by ‘an uneducated, politically inexperienced and irrational class’.
• This viewpoint was based on two core claims which must be contextualised within the imperialist framework. Firstly, women were deemed to not be capable of full citizenship as they were not available for the purposes of national defence. In addition, Asquith argued that the colonies would lose respect for Britain if women were in control. Secondly, the enfranchisement of women might lead to pacifism which would leave Britain open to attack.  (e.g. from the aggressive Germany). In addition, domestic political power was equated to armed strength and it was argued that women would lack the strength to enforce laws and Britain would descend into anarchy.

• Psychological Differences

• According to Victorian scientific theory, psychological differences were grounded in immutable physical differences. Women’s brains weighed less than men’s for instance, and therefore women were intellectually inferior to men. Women were perceived to be guided by their wombs and thus prone to hysteria.
• Antis used biblical references to support their claims – Eve was formed from the spare rib of Adam was subject to his rule.

• Male Influence

• Women were already represented indirectly by the men in their families. Moreover women were seen to exert a more subtle form of control over national affairs through their roles as wives and mothers.
• It was suggested that women were unable to form their own opinions. In addition, due to their inferior qualities women would seek legislation in their own interests rather than the public good, unlike their male counterparts.
• There were also real fears that women would vote for temperance reform.

• Women’s influence outside Parliament

• Many antis, including Mrs Humphrey Ward, argued that women should focus on improving public affairs through non parliamentary means. Engagement in public affairs, such as religious, educational and charitable work were deemed suitable pursuits that did not interfere with the notion of separate spheres.

How effective was the women’s franchise movement 1865-1903?

 

The election of John Stuart Mill to the House of Commons

The election of John Stuart Mill to the House of Commons was important to the cause of female suffrage for several reasons:

• John Stuart Mill was elected on a female suffrage platform; although he refused to canvass he did give a pre-election address in which he made it clear that he was in favour of women gaining the vote. Furthermore, he agreed to Barbara Bodichon’s request to present a petition to parliament in support of female suffrage.
• Barbara Bodichon, Emily Davies, Jessie Boucherett, Elizabeth Garret and Helen Taylor (J.S.Mills daughter) drew up a petition demanding the vote for all householders, regardless of their gender.
• In 1866, Barbara Bodichon formed the first Women’s Suffrage Committee which within a fortnight had collected over 1,500 signatures in support of the petition.
• J.S.Mill and Henry Fawcett presented the petition to parliament where J.S.Mill made a long speech in support of female suffrage that was listened to respectfully.

For the first time, the whole issue of female suffrage was firmly on the parliamentary agenda and was being treated seriously. J.S.Mill was able to bring the topic up in Parliament and ensure that it remained topical.

What was the significance of the 1867 reform bill?

• The 1867 reform act extended the franchise to include householders and lodgers who had been resident for at least twelve months.
• Several petitions supporting women’s suffrage were presented to Parliament during the debates on the bill. On 20th May 1867 John Stuart Mill proposed an amendment that the word ‘man should be replaced with the word ‘person’ in the bill. Therefore allowing women to vote on the same terms as men. The amendment was defeated 196 votes to 73. However the subject of female enfranchisement had again been debated.

• After the failure of ‘enfranchisement by the backdoor’ when large numbers of women attempted to register to vote (see arguments for suffrage) Richard Pankhurst in 1870 drafted the first women’s suffrage bill. It was introduced into the House of Commons as a Private Members Bill and passed its first and second readings. However, the liberal PM Asquith made it clear that the Government would not support such a bill and it was finally defeated. However, the early success of the bill promoted the regular introduction of women’s suffrage bills throughout the 1870’s. However on the few occasions they gained a majority of votes in the Commons, the Government ensured they would not pass into law. (Lack of front bench support).
• Methods – Throughout the 1870s the early suffragists focused on petitioning, lobbying MPs and producing pamphlets to argue their cause. Their lack of success however led to friction.

Divisions within the Women’s franchise Movement

• The Women’s Suffrage Committee, formed in London and The Manchester National Society for Women’s Suffrage, formed with Lydia Becker as its secretary, were both formed in 1866. Swiftly afterwards, other groups with similar ideals were founded in many of the major cities around the country. Although all groups shared the same single goal, disputes emerged regarding strategies and tactics. Causing the various different groups to split and reform.

How problematic where the disputes and divisions to the cause of female suffrage?

• Arguably there was a basic unity of purpose within the movement. Many suffragists aimed to avoid public disagreement and this was likely the reasoning behind the decision of societies such as Birmingham to remain separate from either of the two central organisations.
• The Parliament street society and the Great College Street Society worked together in the run up to the 1894 Local Government Act. This key act gave married women the same rights as single women to vote in local elections, sit on school boards and work as guardians of the poor. Challenging the angel in the house concept. This removed the main source of division between the two suffragette societies.

The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS)

• Inspired by the 1894 Local Government Act, a conference for delegates from all female suffrage groups was held in Birmingham in 1896.
• The conference aimed to devise a petition to Parliament asking for women’s suffrage.
• The petition containing 250,000 signatures was presented to Parliament in 1897 in support of the Women’s Suffrage Bill proposed by the Conservative MP, Faithful Begg.
• The Bill passed its second reading, however like all PMB before it failed to become law because of Government opposition.
• It was the first of a series of parliamentary divisions in favour of women’s suffrage.
• From this point on the NUWSS co-ordinated the constitutional campaign for women’s suffrage and continued to do so until 1918. This organisation was founded in 1897 with Millicent Fawcett as its President; it continued a non-party approach urging women to work with whichever MP supported female suffrage refusing to work with those who did not.

Adding Militancy to the Campaign 1903-1914

• The emergence of militancy amongst the movement is closely linked to the ideas of Emmeline Pankhurst. A radical newspaper began to support Pankhurst and her family and offered financial support, however as a member of the Independent Labour Party she insisted that the funds were used to build a socialist meeting hall. When the ILP branch expressed its intention to exclude women, Pankhurst founded her own organisation – the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) 
• ‘Deeds not words’ – motto. Millitant. Non-partisan
• From 1908 the WSPU intensified the political pressure and promoted new and confrontational methods to force MPs to give women the vote.

How successful was the use of militancy?

• Militancy for some anti-suffragists was proof of the wide-spread instability of women, and of fanatical and hysterical women more particularly. It was therefore proof that women should not be allowed to vote.
• A modern historical view is that militancy was a rational response to male intransigence. Arguing that militancy was a temporary tactical necessity born out of the failure of legal and peaceful methods.
• Radical feminist historians view militancy as challenging male supremacy and thus established the WSPU as not only heroic, but as the precursor to modern feminism.

Reasons for increased militancy?

• Militancy was adopted in response to the failure of years of peaceful campaigning.
• Militancy was a reaction to the 1906 Liberal Government which by excluding women from public meetings and refusing to meet suffragettes had denied them the main forms of non-violent agitations open to the disenfranchised. By being forbidden to peacefully protest, suffragettes believed they were left with only one alternative: violence.
• Militancy can be seen as a retaliatory measure against a Government which imprisoned and force fed those who participated in direct action. An attempt to intimidate the Government?
• Suffragettes believed themselves to be continuing a long and venerable tradition of protest as previous extensions of the franchise, for instance in 1832 and 1867 had been preceded by great disturbances. The WSPU drew on historical examples of the unlawful exercise of physical force to justify its tactics and identified the suffragettes with past revolutionary and resistance heroes.
• Lastly, suffragettes became persuaded that the Government would not grant women the vote until they were forced to do so. Comparisons were drawn between the suffragettes and other pressure groups who advocated violent methods. Christabel Pankhurst noted that minders had succeeded in gaining pay and conditions in 1911 because of their use of violent methods.  Therefore, the suffragists believed that the vote would only be obtained through violent action.
• Militancy often began at a local level with a few ardent activists and was only adopted as WSPU policy when it received extensive support from the membership.
• Arguably, the WSPU leadership tried to restrain the enthusiasms of its rank and file for ever-increasing violent tactics.

Disputes within the Militancy movement

Example 1 – Summer 1907

• Charlotte Despard and Teresa Billington-Grieg became increasingly concerned by the WSPU’s cultivation of middle and upper class women with money and anxious that the WSPU should not loose touch with the working class and drew up a constitution asking for greater autonomy, elected leaders and greater involvement of members in policy decisions.
• Emmeline Pankhurst at the WSPU conference denounced Charlotte and Teresa as traitors, tore up the constitution and declared herself as commander-in-chief in an army in which they were the foot soldiers.
• As a result, Charlotte, Teresa and roughly 1/5 of the WSPU membership left and formed the Women’s Freedom League.

Example 2 – October 1912

• The Pethick-Lawrences began to question the escalation of violence and with the added embarrassment of Frederick being the wrong gender they were summarily expelled from the WSPU.
• Remarkably they seemed to bare the Pankhursts no ill-will and continued to edit the WSPU journal ‘Votes for Women’

Example 3 – January 1914

• Sylvia Pankhurst ran the East London Federation of Suffragettes (ELFS), a branch of the WSPU that focused on achieving a range of rights and benefits for the working-class women, and was democratic in organisation.
• Emmeline Pankhurst ordered her sister to focus her activities on one goal and to disassociate the ELFS from the labour movement. Sylvia refused and the ELFS were summarily removed as a branch of the WSPU and cut off from its funds. It was never again able to operate as a force within the suffragette movement.

Differences between the NUWSS and the WSPU

• Organisation and Structure
• NUWSS

• NUWSS was formed out of the Kensington society and Manchester society.
• 9/11 women who attended early meetings were unmarried and pursued careers.
• Local groups working with a central group based in         London.
• More democratic than the WSPU although it was a condition that its leaders had to be intellectuals.

• WSPU

• Emmeline Pankhurst formed the organisation after getting frustrated with the NUWSS’s lack of success.
• It supported votes for middle/upper class women but the lower classes. Bringing the organisation into conflict with the Labour Party and its supporters.
• It was not democratic in structure (see disputes)

• Strategy
• NUWSS

• Barbara Bodichon submitted a petition to Parliament for women’s votes
• Petitions, lobbying MPs and supporting those who supported votes for women
• Wrote letters, pamphlets etc.
• Peaceful marches
• E.g. Women’s suffrage pilgrimage.

• WSPU

• Published pamphlets, formed petitions etc.
• In 1908 a loss of interest in the suffrage cause, resulted in a change in methods whereby the WSPU adopted more militant tactics.
• Shouted slogans during meetings of ministers. Assaulted police man. Demonstrations to Downing Street and House of Commons. Vandalism.
• Militant, violent tactics. Used to attract attention to the cause.

• Arguments used to try and gain the vote
• NUWSS

• Highlighted the unfairness of the Parliamentary system. Three social groups could not get the vote – women, lunatics and criminals

• WSPU

• Votes for ladies not women. (middle/upper class)

• Conclusions
• NUWSS

• MPs were willing to listen to them
• Democratic organisation
• Supported equality of vote for both men and women
• Methods not effective
• Raised £14,000

• WSPU

• Drastic and attention seeking militant actions garnered lots of attention
• Raised over £37,000

How well supported were the campaigns for women’s suffrage?

• The NUWSS and the WSPU dominated the campaign for women’s suffrage.
• Although it is tempting to see them as two entirely separate organisations, however many women joined both organisations; the NUWSS and WSPU held joint meetings and demonstrations; and members of the NUWSS held celebratory dinners for WSPU suffragettes released from prison. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the NUWSS published membership statistics whilst the WSPU did not.
• Membership of both organisations dramatically increased after 1909.
• Sylvia Pankhurst was very involved with the problems of the rights and opportunities of working-class women in the East End of London. To what extent the WSPU was concerned with the plight of the working-class woman however it debatable.

Black Friday

• Friday 18th November 1910
• Emmeline Pankhurst and 300 women marched on the House of Commons in protest at the failure of the first conciliation bill. When they attempted to enter Parliament, the police responded with brutality. They had been instructed to not arrest the suffragettes and instead responded with sickening violence.
• Some attempts have been made to excuse the behaviour of the police, arguing that they were used to dealing with the working class of the East-End. The women’s actions brought them into abrupt physical contact with the police and the police deemed that the ‘youthful femininity’ of many of their assailants to be an invitation to licence. Therefore their actions were unsurprising.
• Others argue however, the behaviour of the police was tantamount to sexual abuse and was a direct result of the ideology of domesticity. That only men and prostitutes entered the public sphere.

The Nature of the liberal Government 1906-1914

• The main political parties viewed women’s suffrage with apprehension. The impact that female emancipation would have on them politically as still an unknown quantity.
• Parties felt that supporting the cause of female suffrage would cost them existing electoral support.
• The 1906 election was a landslide for the Liberals.
• There were a large number of supporters for female emancipation within the party, for example – David Lloyd George
• The majority meant that the party could theoretically push through any needed legislation through Parliament.
• However, the Liberal Government were unwilling to give women the vote for 3 reasons:
• 1) Asquith (PM from 1908) did not support the cause and was thus disinclined to designate Parliamentary time.
• 2) The Liberal Governments majority was beginning to dwindle as a result of a number of by-elections. By 1910 the Liberals had become reliant on the support of the Irish Nationalists and Labour party to remain in power. Therefore, supporting such a controversial subject would likely lead to a fall from power.
• 3) The political context was becoming increasingly volatile. Insurrection in Ireland and Industrial strikes were the primary concern of the Irish Nationalists and Labour party and therefore the issue of votes for women was marginalised.
• What is more, the HoL was becoming increasingly assertive. The situation was resolved through the 1911 Parliament Act and the Liberals majority was further eroded by two general elections within a year (January and December)

The Conciliation Bills

• 1906: Government refused to support an amendment to a Plural Voting bill, which would have enfranchised some propertied women
• 1907: Women’s Suffrage Bill rejected
• 1908: Women’s Suffrage Bill carried
• 1909: Second reading of Women’s Suffrage Bill carried but Asquith refused support and it failed
• 1910: First Conciliation Bill carried but failed because the government refused to give it parliamentary time
• 1911: Second Conciliation Bill carried but Asquith announced that he preferred to support manhood suffrage but which could include an amendment to the enfranchisement of women and the bill was dropped.
• 1913: Government Franchise Bill introduced universal male suffrage but an amendment to include women was declared unconstitutional
• THIS TIMELNE IS EXPLAINED IN MORE DETIAL BELOW

• In 1910 a cross party Conciliation Committee was established. All the women’s suffrage groups set aside their differences to support the subsequent Conciliation Bills and crucially the WSPU suspended their militant activities
• The Conciliation Bill of 1910 received a Parliamentary majority of 109 in July 1910, and under pressure from his cabinet colleagues, the majority of who supported female emancipation Asquith agreed to give the bill parliamentary time. A second general election intervened and he bill was reintroduced in May 1911, when it passed with a resounding majority of 255 to 88 the cabinet agreed to give the conciliation bill one week of government time.
• However prominent liberals complained that the bill was detrimental to the party’s interests, arguing it would ‘add hundreds of thousands of votes to the strength of the conservative party’ (Lloyd George)
• PM Asquith, heartened by these divisions, for once took the initiative and announced that he was in favour of a manhood suffrage bill that although would not specifically include female enfranchisement, it would not exclude it either.
• Suffragists would be able to propose an amendment that would enable woman or at least some women the right to vote.
• For many Liberals this appeared to be the ideal way forward and the second conciliation bill was finally defeated. All efforts were instead concentrated on devising an acceptable amendment to the proposed Government sponsored reform bill.
• Millicent Fawcett, leader of the NUWSS held confidential talks with the foreign secretary who was a leading Liberal suffragist. David Lloyd George was confident and announced ‘Our success next year, I think is assured.’
• However, in a completely unprecedented move the speaker refused to accept an amendment concerning women’s suffrage. The Government promptly abandoned its own bill.
• Members of the NUWSS felt disillusioned by what they perceived as deception and duplicity on the part of the Government in general and in particular Asquith. Members of the NUWSSS left the Women’s Liberal Federation in droves and many began to focus their support on the Labour Party. The WSPU returned to violence. The truce was over.

The Nature of Conservatives and Labour

How far did the Labour part support the enfranchisement of women?

Didn’t

• The Labour party emerged as a major force in British politics in the years 1903-1914.
• Due to its Socialist principles the emphasis, from the Labour party’s perspective should be on universal suffrage.
• 60 per cent of working-class-men were excluded from the franchise. Faced with middle class women wanting the vote on equal terms as men, many Labour MPs thought they would be perpetuating the class system they had vowed to destroy.
• Labour was often seen to dismiss women’s suffrage as a middle-class concern. The party assumed that something would happen for Women automatically once universal suffrage had been achieved.

Did

• Keir Hardie – first leader of the Labour party in the HoC supported the militant campaign and was close to the Pankhursts. He collected funds, wrote leaflets and taught them Parliamentary techniques.
• Labour MP George Lansbury was a strong supporter of the WSPU. In 1912 he proposed that Labour MPs vote against the Government on all bills until women had the vote and resigned his seat, hoping to be re-elected on a pro-women’s suffrage stance.  However, despite support from both the WSPU and NUWSS he lost.

Attitude of Labour party in a national sense?

• Many Labour party branches actively supported the WSPU and appreciated that even a limited franchise would give the vote to a number of working-class widows and spinsters who were householders.

1912 - a turning point?

• Two events appeared to suggest hat the Labour party was moving towards wholehearted support of women’s suffrage.
• 1) At the Labour party conference, Arthur Henderson proposed that the Labour party should only support a suffrage bill if it enfranchised women too.
• 2) The NUWSS dropped its opposition to allying with a political party and formed an election pact with Labour. This meant that they raised a special fund and designated election organisers to help Labour MPs retain their seats and assisted Labour candidates were the sitting Liberal MP was anti-female suffrage.
  

 How far did the Conservative party support the enfranchisement of women?

The attitude of the parliamentary Conservative Party

• The conservative party was as divided as the Liberal party when it came to women’s suffrage and individuals seemed to change their minds as different times.

• In 1866, Disraeli said ‘I do not see on what reasons she had not a right to vote.’ But in 1867, when John Stuart Mill proposed an amendment to the 1867 Reform Bill, Disraeli gave him no support.
• In 1881 Lord Sailsbury stated ‘The day is not far distant when women will also bear their share in voting for members of parliament and in determining the policy of the country.’ Yet he voted against a second reading of a women’s suffrage Bill in 1891.
• Conservatives in the HoL were generally opposed to female suffrage. Lords Cromer and Curzon were presidents of the Anti-Suffrage League. On the other hand, Lord Lytton (Constance Lytton’s brother) was president of the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage and consistently supported female suffrage in the HoL.
• In 1892 Arthur Balfour highlighted the contradiction in ‘giving a vote to a man who contributes nothing to taxation but what he pays on his beer, while you refuse enfranchisement to a woman whatever her contribution to the state’. However, when he was Prime Minister he did nothing to encourage women’s suffrage.
• Some Conservatives worked on the Conciliation Committee
• In 1913, Bonar Law, Balfour’s successor as leader of the Conservative Party, refused to support an amendment to the franchise reform bill that would have enfranchised women.

• After Disraeli’s leap in the dark in 1867, the Conservative Party was generally opposed to any extension of the franchise, not just women’s suffrage. Moreover, at their annual conferences, the National Union of Conservative Associations voted seven times in the years 1887 to 1910 for female enfranchisement.  

Attitude of Conservative Women in the country at large

• The work of the Primrose league seems to indicate some support for the cause of female suffrage:
• The work of the Primrose league, despite not being a suffrage organisation, arguably assisted the cause of women’s suffrage. The league undermined assumptions about political interita and the ignorance of women without driving men into opposition.

Dealing with Militancy

• At first the Liberal Government responded to militancy by arresting the suffragettes causing the disturbances.
• Although their original offenses were relatively mild, the suffragettes refused to pay the fine and thus the Government had no alternative but to imprison them.
• The spectacle of middle class women entering prison was one the Government wanted to avoid but was one that the suffragettes wanted.
• At first, women prisoners were given ‘first degree’ treatment, which meant that they had the status of political prisoners. After 1908, however, suffragettes were placed in ‘second division’ and were treated as ordinary prisoners.
• In 1909, the suffragette Marion Wallace Dunlop decided to take a different approach and went on hunger strike, this became the protest weapon of choice for imprisoned suffragettes.
• At first, hunger strikers were released from prison. Then the Government, terrified of a hunger striking suffragette dying in prison and anxious not to create a martyr for the cause introduced forcible feeding. Over a thousand suffragettes were forcibly fed through their nose, mouth even rectum and vagina.
• The Government choose its victims carefully, e.g. the case of Lady Constance Lytton (Joan Wharton). Allowed the WSPU to draw attention to class divisions in prison and society at large, that would end, they claimed when women gained the right to vote.
• The Suffragettes submitted willingly to this treatment, it made great publicity for the cause.  The Liberal Government found that its actions were turned into publicity stunts and thus used against it in electioneering.
• Increasingly adverse publicity regarding force feeding forced the Government to think again. In 1913, Parliament passed the Prisoner’s Temporary Discharge for Ill Health Act. This permitted prison authorities to release hunger strikers when they became too weak and ill, thus permitting them time to recover, at which point they would be rearrested. The WSPU dubbed this the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’ and launched a scathing publicity campaign.

The Public response to the Women’s suffrage campaign

Trade Unions

• In general Trade Unions opposed women’s suffrage. The 1901 TUC were hostile to votes for women, and in 1912 the NUM used their block vote to oppose a motion calling for votes for women.
• HOWEVER, there were some women trade unions. Secondly, some individual trade unions supported votes for women and even petitioned Parliament. FINALLY in 1913 the TUC backed the Labour Party’s claim that suffrage reform should only be supported if it included the enfranchisement of women.

Religious Institutions

• The CoE remained largely silent on the subject of women’s suffrage. In contrast, the chief Rabbi, non-conformists and Quakers supported the issue.

The Media

• The National Press was generally hostile to women’s suffrage, and only really engaged with the issue when the campaigns became militant.
• The Times, The London Standard – hostile to women’s suffrage. TLS dubbed suffragettes as ‘deranged lunatics’.
• HOWEVER, The Daily Mirror famously covered Black Friday, whilst Punch Magazine was highly critical of the Asquith’s Governments tactics and many of their cartoons supported female suffrage.  
• Local papers were generally more sympathetic to the cause, whilst many suffragists and suffragettes published their own papers, eg. The WSPU – ‘Suffragette’

How did different suffrage societies react to the outbreak of war in 1914?

The WSPU

• On August 10th 1914, six days after war was declared, the Home Secretary McKenna released both all the suffragettes who had been imprisoned for criminal militancy and trade union activists. McKenna asked simply that they would ‘respond to the feelings of their countrymen and countrywomen in this time of emergency.’
• The WSPU backed the Government. Placing its funds and support at the disposal of the Government. By 1915 2milion men were fighting and women were needed to fill the jobs they left behind. David Lloyd George – Minister for Munitions, gave Emmeline Pankhurst and the WSPU funds to run demonstrations and meetings to encourage women into the workforce. WORKING TOGETHER!!

The WSPU became ardent supporters of the war effort

• Symbolised to rename their paper ‘Empire’ in 1915. They called for the conscription of men and women (to the armed services and industrial services) respectively and supported the abolition of trade Unions (lost socialist and working class roots). Their hard line approach was demonstrated by their white feather campaign to men of fighting age not in uniform.
• The WSPU were also vocal in the international arena where they encouraged Russian women to support their men in the fighting and toured the USA and Canada to garner female support for the conflict.

The ELFS

• In January 1914, Sylvia Pankhurst’s East London Federation of Suffragettes was expelled from the WSPU (see disputes). Nevertheless they continued to campaign to improve the living and working conditions for the East End. E.g. campaigning for increases in allowances for women whilst their husbands were away fighting and calls for the control of food prices and profits.
• Sylvia Pankhurst however, became an increasingly vocal critic of the war and supported conscientious objectors. The ELFS changed its name to the Workers Suffrage Federation in 1916 and by 1918 it had become the Women’s Socialist Federation.
• The Women’s Dreadnought became the Workers Dreadnought

The NUWSS

• Most members of the NUWSS opposed war in principle and claimed that it reflected the male preference for solving disputes with violence. Members of the NUWSS participated in the women’s peace rally which was held on 4th August 1914. When war broke out the NUWSS called for neutrality.
• However: their activities were denounced as unpatriotic by the press and used as evidence of women’s inability to comprehend politics.
• The day after the peace rally, Lord Robert Cecil, one of the Conservative parties most influential supporters of women’s suffrage wrote to Millicent Fawcett to warn that ‘Actions of this kind will undoubtedly made it very difficult for the friends of the Women’s suffrage in both the Conservative and Liberal parties.
• Fawcett changed tact. She called for women to support the war as a German victory would stall the progress of women’s suffrage. This stance forced a split within the organisation and in February 1915 at the NUWSS’s annual council meeting, advocates of peace left to form the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. 
• The remaining members of the NUWSS focused on tacking unemployment. Provided medical relief for civilians in the areas worst affected by war.
• IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE – despite the split, the infrastructure of the NUWSS, and thus its capacity for future action was preserved.

Women’s War Work and the Vote

• After women’s emancipation in 1918 one interpretation that one can draw is that a grateful nation, overwhelmed by the sacrifices of munitions workers in particular granted them suffrage to recompense them for their efforts.
• Another interpretation that one can draw is that the war had changed masculine perceptions about women’s role in society. For the first time, women were accepted into the public world of work, which led ultimately into their acceptance into the public world of politics.
• Women of all social classes were absorbed into the war effort and played a crucial role in the Home Front. Many Upper and Middle class women experienced their first taste of paid employment. Although ones social class often determined what jobs one was permitted to carry out, for instance, selection boards often turned down working-class women who volunteered for the Land Army because they were deemed to lack the high moral fibre needed for farm life.
• Many women joined the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAACS) formed in 1916, the Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAFS) or Women’s Royal Navy Service (WRENS) both of whom were set up in 1918. The majority of women worked in a supportive capacity, e.g. drivers, typists etc. although some did receive technical training. A few WRAFS were employed as welders and carpenters. Although not officially enlisted, these women were considered as part of the British Army. Thus disposing of one of the age old arguments used in opposition to votes for women; that women were incapable of taking part in the defence of their country and were thus entitled to the political demands that stem from such service.
• Upper class women also joined the Voluntary Aid Attachments (VAD), formed in 1909 that greatly expanded during the war, to nurse for injured soldiers both at home and at the front. These women have been portrayed as romantically as heroines who sacrificed their privileged upbringings to nurse the sick and wounded.
• Although criticism was sometimes made of these middle class girls who spent a morning at the hospital whilst domestic servants cleaned their homes. Nevertheless, the nurses generally received a sympathetic press and were seen to deserve the vote.
• Unlike, most of their upper and middle class colleagues, working class women did not go out to work because of the war, they had to work anyway. However, the war did change the nature of their occupation. War gave working class women an alternative to the grossly exploitive job of domestic service or sweated labour.  Domestic service was diminished by 400,000 during the war. Women replaced men as bus drivers, street sweepers, electricians etc.
• Munitions saw the biggest increase in female labour, their work was long and dangerous e.g. TNT poisoning. Working in munitions factories was also highly dangerous because of the risk of explosions.  

The Speakers Conference 1916

• The need to reform the franchise was generally accepted among politicians. Under the current system only male householders who had occupied the dwelling for at least a year were eligible to vote.
• By the time the Speakers Conference took place in 1916, the majority of MP’s were in favour of giving the right to vote to all adult men.
• After weeks of discussion the Speakers Conference submitted its report to Parliament, recommending that ‘some measure of women suffrage should be conferred’ on ‘women who have attained a certain age’. (35 was suggested as a guideline)

 What had changed by 1916?

• In 1915 the Liberal Government was replaced by a coalition Government. This is increased the likelihood of cross-party agreement with regard to the enfranchisement of women.
• December 1916 – Lloyd George, a sympathiser replaced the more hostile Asquith as PM.
• The important contribution of women to the war effort as well as the cease of militancy by the WSPU meant that MPs could change their mind about female enfranchisement without losing face.
• International Attitudes – The House of Representatives in the USA debated votes for women in 1918, the same time as the HoC. The decision to enfranchise women in the USA was carried by a two thirds majority. Norway, Denmark, New Zeland, Australia and Canada had already granted votes for women.
• The fear that the enfranchisement of women would benefit one party over another was largely gone. Liberal and Labour politicians felt that a social mix of such a large group of women meant they would not all necessarily vote Conservative. Whilst, Conservatives felt that most women over 30 were likely to be moderate in their voting and thus had nothing to lose my granting women the vote.

Women MPs

• Seven women stood as candidates for election into the HoC in 1918. Only one was successful, however she had an alternative agenda as a strong advocate for Irish Nationalism and thus refused to take her seat.
• The first woman to be elected into the HoC in her own right was Nancy Astor, who took over her husband’s constituency.
• The number of female MPs gradually increased over the subsequent decade, in 1922 there were five and by 1929 their numbers had grown to 14. HOWEVER they were still heavily outnumbered by their male counterparts and Parliament was not logistically ready for women.

The Labour Party Reaction

• In 1918, the Labour party published a new constitution making women one of the several affiliated groups.
• Women’s sections were set up.
• HOWEVER, the labour party was dedicated to removing inequalities in society but often these policies and bills were directed at the rights of the working man no the working woman. After WW1 unemployment rose and trade unions were more preoccupied in protecting the interests of their male members. Too often women were the first to lose their jobs.
• The appointment of Dr Marion Philips as chief woman organiser with the responsibility of increasing the number of woman voters does sow something of an commitment by Labour to the female vote.  

The Conservative Party Reaction

• The Conservative party, accepting that female enfranchisement was now inevitable, appreciated the advantages of limiting the franchise to the over 30s. (Change in order to conserve). The demographic of this group of voters they argued were more likely to vote Conservative.
• The Woman’s section of the Primrose league and the all-female Women’s Unionist Organisation were affiliated to the Conservative party and formed an effective force. Middle class women with time on their hands, were able to work voluntarily in administration and fund raising resulting in a solid core of support for the domestic policies of Conservative governments.

Further Reforms - attempts to level the playing field

• 1919 Sex Disqualification Act – gave woman the right to become jurors, magistrates and barristers and enter the higher ranks of the civil service. It also removed the legal barriers to woman graduating from Oxford and Cambridge.
• 1922 Married Women’s Maintenance Act – allowed women 40 shillings for herself and 10 shillings for each child
• 1922 Infanticide Act – removed the charge of murder from mothers who killed their infant children, thus recognising that some women were medically depressed after giving birth.
• 1923 Matrimonial Causes Act – allowed women to divorce on the same grounds as men.
• 1923 Bastardy Act – increased maintenance payments to single mothers
• 1925 Guardianship of Infants Act – Gave women the same custody rights as fathers.
• 1925 Widows, Orphans and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act – provided a pension for widows of insured men
• 1928 Equal Franchise Act – GAVE THE VOTE TO MEN AND WOMEN TO EQUAL TERMS

Equal Franchise  

• After 1918 women were still unequal and millions of them still disenfranchised.
• The Coalitions manifesto in 1918 undertook to remove inequalities between men and women; HOWEVER no Government bill sought to do this.
• The Labour party had consistently supported equal franchise in theory, when it briefly came to power in 1924 it resisted all attempts to introduce an equal franchise bill. This was a familiar story; politicians gave lip service to principle, but drew back when it came to action for fear of the outcome.
• When equal franchise was finally granted in 1928, it was done so by a Conservative Government.
• The equal franchise bill reached the commons after much behind the scenes wrangling. It was introduced by the Conservative government, supported by both Liberal and Labour parties, and its only real opposition came from the Conservative backbench. Aware of this opposition the Government applied parliamentary whips, and thus many antis absented themselves on the day of the vote.
• The Bill passed 387-10
• HOWEVER one must note that it is likely that a considerable numbers of MPs realised that the passage of the bill was unavoidable and thus voted for the bill in fear of being viewed by the newly enfranchised woman electorate of having been anti suffrage.

Opening up the world of work to women 1901-1930

Domestic Service

• Domestic service employed the largest number of girls and women throughout the period.
• Work was unregulated and women often worked long hours for little pay
• It was looked favourably upon within the working class as it prepared girls for their future roles as wives and mothers.
• Domestic labour provided the security of food and shelter. Work came with an annual contract and work was readily available.
• HOWEVER this type of work had many drawbacks:

• Servants were required to remain unmarried and childless and were seen as sexually available by the males. However if they were to get pregnant they would be dismissed.
• Free time was minimal. Any evidence of a social life was frowned upon

• By 1881, one in three girls aged between 15 and 20 were employed in domestic service.
• These rates varied considerably nationally however.

Factory Work

• By 1899 over half a million women worked in factories, predominantly in the towns and cities of northern England, the midlands and wales.
• The work was poorly paid in comparison to domestic service, however it meant that young women were able to secure a wage and work away from home and thus offered a new form of independence.  
• New inventions and changing social norms meant that opportunities for new forms of factory work were becoming readily available.
• TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION had a profound impact on job opportunities for women.

• Remington typewriters were available in England from 1874 and by the 1880s they had begun to impact onto the business world.
• Typewriting was seen as having some similarities to piano playing and thus became the province of women. Women thus became increasingly in demand in the burgeoning business world.
• The telephone and telegraph also provided new opportunities for women. By 1914 the Post Office was the largest employer of middle class women and accounted for 90 per cent of women employed by the Government.
• Whilst only 6000 women worked as clerks in 1881, by 1901 this had increased to 60,000. By 1914 clerical work was the third most popular occupation for middle class women, behind shop work and teaching.

Shop Work

• Mass production and the development of department stores towards the end of 19th century created a new demand for shop assistants.
• In 1875 there were aprox. 295,000 shops in Britain, by 1907 this number had risen to 459,952
• The rapid increase in shops provided new job opportunities for lower middle class women. The work was clean and respectable.
• HOWEVER the hours were long, with many women working up to an 85 hour week
• Nevertheless, shop work soon became more desirable than service and factory work which begun to be seen as the preserve of the working class. – CLASS DIVISONS AND PERCEPTIONS

Women and the Professions

• Teaching, law and medicine, all of which required higher education were the professions most desired by women.
• School teaching was seen as desirable as it allowed women to use their education without losing their femininity.
• The legal profession became open to women after the passing of the Sex Disqualification Act 1919.
• The nursing profession was increasingly considered to be a suitable profession for women; however it required women to work in close proximity with male patients and exposed them to messy procedures. The growing need for nurses was met by appointing upper middle class women as managing sisters, whilst lower middle class women worked as working nurses. 
• 1874 – Elizabeth Garret Anderson and Sophia Jex-Blake opened the London School of Medicine for Women. By 1900 there were 200 women on the medical register and this number rose to 1,000 by 1914. HOWEVER many of whom were unable to find work.

The Impact of Government Legislation

• 1867 Agricultural Gangs Act

• This act required that every gang master to be licensed and be of good character. It also forbade women to be employed in the same gangs of men and forbade them to work under a male gang master.

• 1867 Workshops Regulation Act

• Workplaces with fewer than 50 people were forbidden to employ girls and boys under eight. Children aged 8-13 could only work part time. Young people and women were restricted to an 12 hour working day.

• 1874 Factory Act

• Minimum age raised to 9 yrs old. Working day reduced to 10 hours for women.

• 1886 Shop Hours Regulation Act

• Hours shortened

• 1896 Factory Act

• Employers were not allowed to employ a woman within four weeks of giving birth.

• 1901 Factory Act

• The number of hours a woman could work was reduced by one, and consolidated other acts.

• 1906-1914 Shop Hours regulation Acts

• Number of minor acts established a maximum of 64 hours a week for shop work

Working women and Trade Unions

• The influx of women into the labour force was seen as a direct challenge to men’s job security. Women were paid considerably less than men and were thus at times accused of undercutting their male colleagues and forcing down their pay.
• Women were slow to unionise as their work was often seen as a temporary occupation prior to marriage.
• Women had THREE ways to unionise…

• First, they could join some unions that accepted women, e.g. NAU of Shop Assistants.
• Other unions had women only sections run by men
• Finally some women set up their own unions such as the Women’s Provident League.

• Part of the role of the unions was to raise the profile of pay and conditions which women faced.
• Trade Boards (1909) – had the power to fix minimum wage rates in trades including tailoring, box-making and chain making.
• Encouraged by Annie Bessant, some unionists favoured direct action and supported unionists in this enterprise. Bessants article on ‘White Slavery’ about girls in Byrant and Mays match factory led to connections with the Women’s Trade Union League and eventually enabled match girls to win a wage increase and an improvement in their working conditions.