In 1918, at the end of World War One, certain women over the age of 30 were finally enfranchised. This marked a major point in democracy, as it was the first time in the UK that women had been given any electoral power. It is generally accepted by many historians that the main reason for women gaining the vote was due to their role in the first world war, that it was a “thank you” from the government. However there are other historians who view this theory as being overly simplistic and that there are a number of other factors that contributed to the granting of votes to women.

Historians such as Alistair Gray and Arthur Marwick believe strongly that women gaining the vote was a direct result of their war work on the Home Front while the men of Britain fought abroad in the Great War. Over the 4 year period of the war, 1914 to 1918, women filled the gaps left behind by men in areas such as industry, engineering and munitions factories the number of women working in such positions increased to over 700,000, this was considerably dangerous, with risks not only from explosions but from the chemicals used, and in government departments, which had previously been filled solely by men, now were almost entirely dominated by 200,000 women, the female population of Britain quickly came to envelop almost all aspects of British life and society, from farming to police work. Many believe that the enfranchisement of women over 30 solely as a result of their work during the war, and it was merely a expression of gratitude. That the actions of women during the war caused men to change their attitude towards women as their eyes were opened to the capabilities of women.

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Historians such as Paul Bartley oppose the traditional view, Bartley said “It would be naive to believe that women received the right to vote solely for services rendered in the First Word War.” This belief is backed by the fact that once the war had ended, women were promptly ejected from the roles which they had flourished in during the war. Showing that while, women may have successfully proven their worth, and that they were not simply inferior and submissive housewives, they were still not considered to equal enough to continue their work. Moreover those those that had ...

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