3. Study sources D and E and use your own knowledge. Why, despite the Suffragette activity, had women not gained the vote by the outbreak of the First World War?
Source D was written by a famous leader of the Suffragette group, Emmeline Pankhurst, says the methods of getting their point across had failed to do so. They had thought the public must have been taught about women’s suffrage and the right for them to have it but there was already a large section of the public who were in favour of women’s suffrage, which would have quickly given then the vote as simple as that but the government didn’t agree. They wouldn’t give the vote therefore the Suffragettes were to resort to fighting aggressively.
Source E also gives a reason for women not having suffrage, the MP who the quote was from, a man of high class, disagreed with it, and so the government rejected the idea. The opinion of this MP was regular as most MPs were afraid of women coming into powerful occupations and thought women in control of a country was a terrible idea as they cannot think for themselves, are not skilled enough and to immature to control a country.
Other reasons for women not getting the vote by 1914 are because of the bad behaviour of the Suffragettes, which had only given women the name of aggressive and out of control people who did not suit something as politically important such as the vote. They had been putting off their supporters. They had damaged their cause as they gave a reason, that they had irrational methods of getting women suffrage, for rejecting women’s right to vote.
4. Study Sources F and G. How useful are these two sources as evidence for the contribution of women to the war effort in the years 1914-1918?
Source F, a poster of which is government propaganda produces in 1916 to make women want to join the women munitions workers, as there was a lack of workers since the workers would have been men but most men had gone to fight the war. The text Enrol at once shows that the government really needed the workers then and there. The woman in the poster is in front of a man working, which implies that she was just needed as men. She is a stereotype of a woman, which are the women that are not able to do things besides be a wife and a mother. In the picture the woman does not look fragile and week but sturdy and able to do things that men can. This picture only suggests women worked in such jobs only men were suited for, but it doesn’t actually give evidence that they had done. The poster may look informative of the contribution of women to the war effort during 1914-18 but we cannot tell if women were actually interested by this to join the war effort as looking at it doesn’t tell us how women had reacted about the poster.
Source G is a table showing data of Women in Employment in Britain. We can gather from this that between July 1914-18 which is the period of the WWI the figures for the amount of women working increases dramatically in jobs which women may have been seen as to hard to do. In one way the source is very useful because it tell us about the women’s contribution to the war between 1914-18. It tells us that during the war women contributed to the war effort by working the jobs others couldn’t do. It does not actually tell us why women did these jobs. It could have been because of things like the freedom to do the jobs because they never had that privilege before; because of the suffrage for women groups like Suffragettes and Suffragists, telling women to go to work, or maybe even the government propaganda encouragement. Both sources also don’t tell us what women went through getting in to these jobs and helping the war effort, whether women were look down on by the men when first trying to help or if the government repeatedly asked women for the help they before, couldn’t give.
5. Study Sources H, I and J use your own knowledge. It was the work that women did during the war that earned them the vote. Use Sources H, I and J and your own knowledge, to explain whether you agree with this interpretation.
Source H tells us, A very simplified view would see the vote as a reward for loyal wartime service, taking note of, very simplified view, which means that at first glimpse of all the proof about why women were given the vote, it would seem true, but it wasn’t really. Sources H doesn’t agree that the wartime effort earned them suffrage as it says not much change resulted from the was which is that men still had the same attitude towards women before the war and after the war, as men felt happiest when women didn’t do jobs in farms, hospitals and factories but if they became nurses, provider of refreshments and brought up fighting men of the future, still, the same attitude women must be mothers and wife’s. The right to vote for women was not because they had earned it but as a reward for their help. The attitudes meant that women over 30 were allowed to vote as they were more likely to vote the same way as their husband as if women had no opinion or interest over anything besides being mothers and wife’s, and don’t think for themselves.
Source I believes that, It was the work women did during the war that earned them the vote, had some truth although it states it was a very rough generalisation.It explains that after the war everyone wanted some change, and that women’s suffrage just seemed to be one of many great social and political changes, that they wanted. People became more down to earth with their political views and government as they wanted changes to take place rather than to just listen and do what the government said. This source implies that, if the war had not happened, women would not have suffrage as the government would no feel pressured to change laws and rules, and then have to fix the women’s right to vote along with it.
Source J agrees with the war bringing women the right to vote, as the Prime Minister of 1907-1916, Herbert Asquith, said, I therefore believe that some measure of women’s suffrage should be given because of the contribution to every service during this war except that of fighting. He previously opposed women’s votes before the war Suffragettes had been doing their horrible campaign of violence.However his attitude hadn’t been proved change by this, as he only though some measure of women’s suffrage should have occurred, not all women should have it in other words, he only now agreed to let them vote as a reward for their service during the war not because they were entitled to it nor had a right to it.
The work women did during WWI did have a massive impact on their cause. They had access to jobs never before were available to women, like bus drivers, postal workers, farmers and delivering coal. Women were meant to be feeble, delicate and weak. They succeeded in heavy work and in jobs needing skill like working in engineering workshops. Women working as such things like their vital contribution to the munitions industry, stood out in peoples minds. As the government had talked of creating a land fit for heroes when the soldiers returned from the war, the right to vote had become of the many changes to take place as surely women were heroes for helping. The women had proved themselves to the whole country. However, had the women really proved themselves, they would have got complete suffrage rather than just some, but some MP’s were sexiest anyway so hat the women proved themselves completely because the MP’s would still be against women suffrage and still deny it for them. Therefore government opinions of women had not changed as much at all; they still thought women were weak and unable to take interest in things besides motherhood and being housewives. After the war, the politicians had not felt like having all that fighting from the wartime then going to the days where women- Suffragettes and Suffragists- would harass and pressure the government to let them to vote, so giving women the vote after the war was a quick and simple solution to settle down after the war too.