Votes for Women, c1900-28 - source related study.

Jemma Holland 10MAC History Coursework 4th July 2003

Votes for Women, c1900-28- History Coursework

Question 1

This propaganda poster, produced 16 years before women gained the vote, explains the view of the campaigners by illustrating pictures of what women may be and yet not have the vote. The pictures illustrate women as a major, nurse, mother, doctor or teacher and factory hand. This only applies to women of the higher and middle class, eg: women of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) (National Union who could afford such an education. It shows that women may be successful even without the vote. Source A explains the importance for votes for women by illustrating what men may have been and yet not lose the vote. The illustrations show men as a convict, lunatic, proprietor of white slaves, unfit for service and a drunkard. This gives a bad view of men who even have the vote are not as successful or wise as the women illustrated above the men.

Source A suggests the author wants us to believe that women can be more successful than men, despite not having the vote and could gain a higher status in society than men who are illustrated as unsuccessful and in low paid jobs.

The idea behind this poster is to illustrate the determination of women to get the vote. Not unlike many women in the past, such as Florence Nightingale and Marie Curie, who stood up for their rights and showed that even having a lower status than men, like the women campaigning for the vote, they could not be prevented from standing up for their rights.

Question 2

Source B and Source C both have similarities between them that suggests women were seen as too violent and could not be trusted if given the vote.

Source B describes the campaigners as a number of discontented women with shrill cries. This source gives the message that women are destined not to receive the vote but to produce male voters and suggests that although women suffer unfairly from the demands of men this is as a direct result of the way mothers bring up their sons. Obviously the author does not believe in women gaining the vote.

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Source C illustrates two women who are both campaigning for female suffrage. The one on the left is a Suffragist and the one on the right is a Suffragette. It gives out the message that suffragettes were violent and prevented women, who were non violent like the NUWSS, from getting the vote. This hints that if the WSPU didn’t exist women would have been given the vote much earlier. There is a clear indication of prejudice and discrimination in this picture, showing the suffragette who belongs to the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in rugged clothes, shaking her fist and shouting where as the suffragist on the right, belonging to the NUWSS, is wearing nice clothes and is upright and not shouting. This suggests also that suffragists came mainly from the middle and upper classes whereas the suffragettes came mainly from the poorer working class. The images of the two women chosen by the cartoonist give a view of how people and the author himself may have interpreted the campaign.

There are many similarities between these two sources, which support evidence about the female suffrage movement. The body language in the picture of Source C suggests women were discontented, a word used literally in Source B. There is also the similarity between shrieking sister in Source C and shrill cry in Source B. Therefore these similarities suggest that these sources have a definite connection.

Source B says women are destined not to get the vote. Whereas Source C illustrates that due to their violent behaviour the suffragettes stand in the way of getting the vote for women. This suggests that a peaceful approach may gain greater support from the Liberals who preferred the NUWSS simply because they used no violence.

Question 3

In 1914 the First World War broke out and women despite their efforts still had not gained the vote. In Source D Emmeline Pankhurst suggests that violence has only been used because they did not receive votes for women following a large public swing of opinion in 1906 when a large section of public opinion were in agreement for votes for women. This is based on an earlier statement in the same paragraph where she states “The argument of politicians and Suffragists has always been that once public opinion swings our way then without any force at all women will be given the vote”. Pankhurst is therefore blaming the government for encouraging the violence after they were not given the vote when a large section of the public were clearly in favour of them receiving it.

Source E is a biased statement that claims that if women were given the vote male control of government would be lost to female control. This is because some men felt threatened by the thought of women receiving the vote. It would give women a direct influence and voice in the forming of future governments. It does not consider the fact that this may be a good influence for future generations.

The political reasons for why women did not gain the vote by 1914 was that the Liberals were against giving women the vote because of their concern that in giving the vote to women they would vote for the Tories. They were also concerned because as well as giving women the vote, it would also mean giving working class men the vote, who would vote for Labour. The Tories, on the other hand, did not consider giving women the vote because they wanted everything to be based on religious and traditional views. Labour did not want to give women the vote as they wanted to concentrate more on giving working class men the vote who were more likely to vote Labour.

In order to discourage violence amongst the women campaigners the Cat and Mouse Act was introduced which authorised the use of force feeding through tubes of women on hunger strike who were in prison as a result of their violent campaign for votes for women. This was socially unpopular with the public as many women fell ill as a result of being force-fed. Another, of the many reasons the government gave for not giving the vote to women was that a woman’s place was in the home and it was not her duty to vote or campaign on the streets. As well as this, the government were very determined not to give in to the violent campaign because it may encourage groups in other areas of discontent, such as in India, to use violence to get their own way and force the breakdown of British rule in India.

Question 4

Source F is a piece of propaganda encouraging women to get out of the home and into the factories. It was a way of giving the public a different perspective of women, especially by men who felt women belonged in the home as housewife or domestic servant. Many women were encouraged by this kind of propaganda because it meant a new job where they would earn a higher wage than in their previous jobs and be able to have a more social and less demanding lifestyle. It also suggests that the government were aware that without women taking on this role in the war industries the war effort would be greatly disadvantaged. The government’s heavy advertising campaign for this new role for women also had the effect of calming down the violent campaign used thus far by women to obtain the vote.

As a result of this new perspective of women working in factories, taking over what would normally be considered a man’s job, fashion started to change and a new look started to emerge. However despite the massive advertising campaign encouraging women to go out to work, over half a million women still worked as a domestic servant in the household.

Source G shows the number of women employed in the war industries at the beginning of the war (1914) and the huge increase in this number by the end of the war (1918). This is due to the large amount of publicity by the government to encourage women to work in the war industries. Between July 1914 and July 1918 over 400,000 women joined the metal industries; over 63,000 women joined in the chemical industries; over 60,000 joined the Food, Drink and Tobacco industries; and an amazing 223,000 women joined government offices.

Both these sources illustrate how much women became involved in the war, the importance of this work in support of the war effort and an indication of why women got the vote.

Question 5

Source H suggests overall that the vote came as a result of women successfully rearing up their children, however it does mention in very little detail that the granting of the vote was a reward of loyal wartime service.

It explains how women were accepted and rejected in particular types of jobs because of their well-known role as a housewife and domestic servant. It suggests that the men and government of that time felt most comfortable if the women looked after the men and did jobs such as nurses, providers of refreshments for the troops and brought up fighting men of the future. This was the reason why many women were rejected in such jobs as working on farms, in hospitals and factories because it was felt that a woman’s place was at home and their job was to bring up the children. Most politicians agreed that women had done a great service to the country by bringing up their children successfully and felt women could be given the vote as an reward for these efforts.

Source I is written more in agreement that women were given the vote because of the war, although it does not mention the loyal wartime service of women. It explains about political and social changes as a result of the war that changed the way people thought and suggest that throughout the four years of conflict the mood of the people changed. One possible interpretation is that during the four years of war there was a

significant change in the people’s frame of mind and as the source states, “a tremendous mood favourable to change had been created”.

In Source J Herbert Asquith recognises that women deserve the vote by their loyal wartime service during the war between 1914-1918. He explains that women have contributed to every service of the war except that of fighting and have not restarted using violence for their campaign to vote. This therefore suggests that the vote was given based on the loyal wartime service of women and because they had backed away from using such “horrible violence” as Herbert Asquith puts it.

However the vote was only given to those over 30 and they had to be a householder or married to a householder. Although, eventually in 1928, when the Labour Party introduced the ‘Representation of the People Act’ women as young as 21 were allowed to vote.

I believe that women working in wartime service certainly boosted the chance of women getting the vote but there were also other reasons for this decision. The way women behaved throughout the war improved and the fact that no violence erupted showed women up in a good light, it encouraged the mood and opinion of the people to change. This change in mood and opinion suggested a gradual acceptance, if not voiced, that women had a greater role to play in the future of the country and giving them the vote was part of that role.