A second reason is because of the scientific theories of the time about the physical and psychological differences between men and women. In those days, it was believe that the menstrual cycle of women made them unpredictable, irrational and moody; also women were guided more by their womb than by their brain so they were more prone to hysteria. Men believed that women were too sensitive and would not be able to take tough decisions and they thought that women were intellectually inferior to them because women’s brains weigh less.
Thirdly, some anti-suffragettes insisted, ‘why do women need to vote at national level when they already have a vote at local elections?’ They thought that ‘democracy’ is not just about voting in national elections and women should be happy with their involvement in local elections. They argued that women’s involvement in community was all an extension of their private role. Also they believed that women are not able to cope with involvement in national elections since there are much more pressing problems for the country to be dealing with.
Fourthly, some argued that women did not need to have a vote since they were already represented by their husbands. They believed that giving women the vote is the same as giving husbands two votes, for the reason that wives were expected to have the same political views as their husbands.
The fifth long term reason of against giving women the vote is that some people asserted, ‘ why do we have to change a system that works’. Britain was the most powerful country with a good political system and the people were worried about making a change by letting women vote because they believed women could spoil the stability of the system.
Lastly, people who were willing to fight for their country and they insisted women should never vote since they could not fight in the army to defend their country. They also worried that if women got the vote, women would not wish Britain to fight wars and this would reduce Britain’s power in the world.
These were the long term reasons why women failed to get vote between 1900 ~ 1914, now I am going to talk about short term reasons why women failed to get vote.
Firstly, it was because of the attitudes of the political parties. The conservatives who were in power up to 1906, believed that women should not be allowed to vote since lots of them believed in the separate spheres argument. They thought, ‘why do we have to change the system when it works well?’ In 1906 the Liberals were in power. However the ministers were divided since the Prime Minister, Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman supported votes for women. In 1908 Herber’s Asquith became the new Prime Minister, who opposed votes for women; it was because he knew that if he allowed rich women to get the vote, they would vote for conservatives because conservatives were supporters rich people so liberals would lose support. Also he believed that women are too sensitive and would not be able to take tough decisions. Furthermore, Suffragettes’ violence played into the hands of Asquith. It gave him an excuse not to give in to the suffragettes since he could argue that it was wrong to give in to violence and women are not to be trusted. Therefore their violence made them less likely to get vote.
Suffragettes, as I wrote before, chose violent and illegal methods to achieve their aim. They used violence such as window smashing, attacking on works of art in art galleries, cutting of the telegraph, and attacking people to get rights over men quickly. However, their violence rather led to government opposition. The violence gave government a reason and excuse to argue that it was wrong to give in to violence and the violence supported the government and the view of women were too ‘emotional’ and ‘hysterical’ since their irresponsibility of violence showed to the public that women were not responsible and thoughtful enough to have national vote.
Also, the suffragettes’ violence did not succeed in winning over the majority of people in the country. It is because, people were frightened of suffragettes’ smashing their windows, they were furious at suffragettes cutting of telegraph wires and destroying letter boxes and they were also scared of buildings bombed and burnt down. Women were not allowed to go to art galleries and museums alone without reasonable men attending with them because of the suffragettes’ poor behaviour. Therefore they lost public support and made less likely to get votes since public opinion was firmly against the suffragettes.
Moreover, the suffragettes’ split with the suffragists in late 1908 made them less powerful. Their separation was caused because NUWSS disagreed with that the suffragettes’ activities for the reason that they believed that the WSPU would make the Government hostile to votes for women and this made women’s movement weaker.
In a nutshell, in my own opinion, women failed to gain the right to vote between 1900 and 1914 not only because of long term reasons such as biological, economical and political arguments, but also the short term reasons like suffragettes’ violence which made the situation worse and also because of the attitude of political parties.
