Who did the most to win women the vote?
Who did the most to win women the
vote?
Women wanted the right to vote. Its as simple as that. Or is it? Through years leading up to 1918 women done horrendous acts for the attention of getting the right to vote for women. There were many things women could not do without the vote, such as; Become lawyers, work in banks, to get a degree and in jobs they were paid a lot less than men. The vote would have a large affect on women's lives and would gain more respect for them. So why didn't women have the vote? Men didn't believe that women should hold such the large responsibility to have a say in how the county is run. Men thought women were irrational and hysterical. They say man was created by god to rule over women and we have no right to alter this. Unfortunatley for the women most mp's were men, so they were at a huge loss. Being able to get them on there side was going to be a long and hard job. After all this hard work, death's and imprisonments women finally gained suffrage . This was because of the first world war, women finally had the chance to show men that they're just as good as them!
Millicent Fawcett started the National Union of Women's Suffrage, what we know as the suffragists late in the 1890's. She believed in peaceful protest. She felt that any violence or trouble would persuade men that women could not be trusted with the vote. But these protests weren't making any progress this made many women angry, and in 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia founded the Women's Social and Political Union, The suffragettes. The suffragettes were militant and out spoken, they committed many assaults and performed many violent acts. But it wasn't until 1910's that they became this violent, beforehand they were relatively peaceful but still gained a lot of attention. The sort of things they did were, magazine publishing, merchandise making as they needed a lot of money to spread their propaganda- the suffragette's were represented by three colours, white, purple and green. So you could identify if a women was a suffragette of a suffragette supporter because somewhere she would be wearing the three colours, maybe on a badge, scarf or ribbons. They sent out Christmas cards, had cups and saucers, postcards, kites. These three colours all represented something-white was the colour of purity, purple symbolised dignity and green was a sign of living things- hope for the future. They marched up and down the streets holding demonstrations. But the one thing they did that caused the suffragette activity to become more violent is when Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney interrupted a political meeting in Manchester to ask two liberal politicians which were Winston Churchill and Sir Edward Grey if they believed women should have the right to vote. Neither man replied. As A result the women got out a banner which had on it ' Votes for Women' and shouted at the politicians to answer there question. These actions where unheard of. But it got worse. Pankhurst and Kenney were thrown out of the meeting and arrested for causing an obstruction and a technical assault on a police officer. But both refused to pay the fine.
The Suffragettes refused to bow to violence. In November 1910 the Prime minister promised to change the laws and give women the right to vote this seemed to be a long awaited victory for women, but then an election was held and the plan was abandoned. The suffragette's became furious and frustrated. They burned down churches as the Church of England was against what they wanted; they vandalised Oxford Street, apparently breaking all the windows in this famous street; they chained themselves to Buckingham Palace as the Royal Family were seen to be against women having the right ...
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The Suffragettes refused to bow to violence. In November 1910 the Prime minister promised to change the laws and give women the right to vote this seemed to be a long awaited victory for women, but then an election was held and the plan was abandoned. The suffragette's became furious and frustrated. They burned down churches as the Church of England was against what they wanted; they vandalised Oxford Street, apparently breaking all the windows in this famous street; they chained themselves to Buckingham Palace as the Royal Family were seen to be against women having the right to vote; they hired out boats, sailed up the Thames and shouted abuse through loud hailers at Parliament as it sat; others refused to pay their tax. Politicians were attacked as they went to work. They homes were fire bombed. Golf courses were vandalised. On 18th November 300 women went to parliament to protest, but they were beaten up by police who had been ordered by the government to frighten and humiliate the women so they would give in. They Kicked the women, twisted there breasts, punch there noses and thrust knees between there legs. Some women even died from their injuries. I think this showed that men can be just as violent and women to get what they want. The first decade of Britain in the 20th century was proving to be violent in the extreme!
The Suffragettes were quite happy to go to prison. Here they refused to eat and went on a hunger strike. The government was very concerned that they might die in prison introducing the movement martyr. Prison governors were ordered to force-feed Suffragettes but this caused a public outcry as forced feeding was traditionally used to feed lunatics as opposed to what were mostly educated women. The government of Asquith responded with the Cat and Mouse Act. When a Suffragette was sent to prison, it was assumed that she would go on hunger strike as this caused the authorities maximum discomfort. The Cat and Mouse Act allowed the Suffragettes to go on a hunger strike and let them get weaker and weaker. Force-feeding was not used. When the Suffragettes were very weak..........they were released from prison. If they died out of prison, this was of no embarrassment to the government. However, they did not die but those who were released were so weak that they could take no part in violent Suffragette struggles. When those arrested had regained their strength, they were re-arrested for the most trivial of reason and the whole process started again. This, from the government's point of view, was a very simple but effective weapon against the Suffragettes.
As a result, the Suffragettes became extreme. The most famous act associated with the Suffragettes was at the June 1913 Derby when Emily Wilding Davison threw herself under the King's horse. She was killed and the Suffragettes had their first martyr. However, her actions probably did more harm than good to the cause, as she was a highly educated women. Many men asked the simple question - if this is what a highly educated women would, what an earth would a less educated women do. So how can they possibly be given the responsibility of the vote?
The sister campaigners for the right to vote, the Suffragists decided not to go on that route and were very peaceful with their campaigning they wrote letters to mp's, lead peaceful demonstrations and peaceful marches, Held publics meetings to raise awareness and presented petitions. Millicent Fawcett the founder, had a game plan , this was patience and logical arguments. She argued that if parliament made laws and that women had to obey those laws , then women should be a part in the process in making those laws! Her most powerful argument was that wealthy women of large manors and estates employed gardeners, workmen, and labours who could vote, but the women could not regardless of her wealth. The suffragists progress finally began to pick up through all their hard but non-violent work they had obtained at one point 50% of politicians for the cause. They even had their own publication- the Women's suffrage journal. The suffragists won large amounts of respect from politicians. And seemed to be impressing them more than the suffragettes.
It was now 1914 the beginning of the 1st world war, an opportunity for women to show a male dominated society that they were responsible and strong enough to have the right to vote. And that they could do more than simply bring up children and tend a home. In World War 1, women played a vital role in keeping soldiers equipped with ammunition and kept the nation moving through their help in operating the transport system. With so many young men volunteering to join the army, and with so many casualties in Europe, a gap was created in employment and women were called on to fill these gaps. World War 1 was to prove a turning point for women. At the start in August 1914, those in political power had been left angered by the activities of the Suffragettes and women had no political power whatsoever. By the end of the war, in November 1918, women had proved that they were just as important to the war effort as men had been and in 1918, women were given some form of political representation. Women found employment in transport the rail lines and driving buses and trams, nursing, factories making ammunition, the Women's Royal Air Force where they worked on planes as mechanics, on farms in the Women's Land Army, in shipyards. Before 1914, these jobs had been for men only ,with the exception of nursing. Young women volunteered to join the VAD's (Voluntary Aid Detachment) and FANY's (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry) they also joined the WLA (women's land army) and WAAC (women's auxiliary army corps)
But they were paid for these.
The FANY's helped overworked nurses and men in the royal army medical corps as did the VAD's and neither got paid.
The VAD's came from a variety of backgrounds - cooks, domestic servants, laundry workers etc. Their medical training was basic, they went to the war zone meant that they could comfort badly injured soldiers and give them basic medical treatment even if they were originally not allowed to give injections.
The WLA's: With so many men away fighting, someone had to bring in the harvests and keep the farms going. Therefore, we had to become self-sufficient in food. The Women's Land Army played a vital part in this especially after 1916 when the Battle of the Somme killed and wounded so many young British soldiers, men who would normally work on the land.
During the war suffragettes called off their violent campaigning. Newspapers during the war began to be in favour of the right for women to vote. In December 1917, the 'London Gazette' surveyed 444,000 women. 68% of them had changed jobs since the war began in 1914. 16% had moved out of domestic service, 22% were unemployed in 1914 and now had work; 23% had moved form one factory job to another factory - such movement had been very rare for women before 1914.
The 'Woman Worker' magazine interviewed women in February 1919, just three months after the end of the war, and 65% of those interviewed stated that they would never go back to domestic service regardless of their situation. Only 5% stated that they would go back to domestic work but on their terms - £40 a year, 2.5 days a week off and clothes to wear on duty to be chosen by themselves Before 1914, domestic servants had to pay for their uniform out of their own money and many resented this. It seemed the war was really making a difference in the way women were treated and how they were allowed to act and things they could do and the new wartime government contained a new mixture of mp's many were keen to give women the vote. All the work done by women during the war was to lead to something the Suffragettes had wanted but failed to get. In 1918, women over the age of 30 were given the right to vote and in 1928, this was changed so that all women had equal political rights as men.
In conclusion, Women Finally got what they wanted suffrage, the right to vote. So who actually did the most to make this happen?! Well the suffragists were well on their way to getting the vote through non-violent acts and managed and one point to get 50% of politicians on their side. Unfortunately for them the suffragettes ruined it for them, by committing their militant actions that got worse through out the years they appalled the politicians which once again agreed women haven't got the knowledge or responsibility to have the vote. So most of the progress the suffragists made was ruined by the violence of suffragettes, But I wouldn't end this essay saying the suffragists did the most , I also wouldn't end it the suffragettes did the most. It was none, but the women her self each women that helped campaigning did the most. Any women that went into the war front or joined the FANY's , VAD's, did the most. Any women that took over men's jobs during the war did the most.
It wasn't a certain group of women that impressed the politicians so much they got the vote. It was the hard work and team work and determination that all the women did through out the war that got them were we are today.