WHY DID A CAMPAIGN FOR WOMEN(TM)S SUFFRAGE DEVELOP IN THE YEARS AFTER 1870?

Naomi Sutherland 10A

WHY DID A CAMPAIGN FOR WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE DEVELOP IN THE YEARS AFTER 1870?

Throughout history men had mainly dominated society before a campaign for women’s suffrage, which developed after 1870 due to many reasons. One reason being the desire for women to improve their inferior status to men in society. Women knew they were not seen in the same social status as men and this had massive effects on their lifestyles. Women wanted to change this, to change their lives. They did this in different ways.

Their main reason for wanting suffrage was to improve there inferior status to men, they thought that as long as women were denied the right to vote they would always have a low status in society and be seen as second class citizens which really affected their lives. Their role was limited to a wife and mother, when married their husband practically owns them and all their possessions and are able to treat them as slaves, if a divorce happened, which was incredibly rare everything including any children would be lost to the husband. Their jobs were very limited to teacher or work in some sort of factory and were not allowed to have what was seen as an important job such as a doctor, they were underpaid and had poor working conditions.

Another reason is the fact that women had been given opportunities to vote in other situations which made them crave the ‘real’ vote more as they could vote in local elections and could serve on committees. Women felt that their political power in local affairs showed that they were capable of making rational, political decisions in general elections, which made them wonder what the reason was for them not being able to vote in parliament as they were affected by their decisions as well.

The way women were perceived was greatly improved when they campaigned for more ...

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The way women were perceived was greatly improved when they campaigned for more educational rights and eventually schools for girls were opened and colleges, more women were graduating as nurses and other better jobs were available to them also. This changed peoples attitude towards educating women and this therefore helped women campaign for suffrage as they knew they could cope with the intellectual responsibilities involved. The changes in the 19th century due to the women’s campaigns made them feel stronger. Also because women had been getting better jobs they were contributing more to the economy and wanted a say in how their taxes were being spent by the government. This led to women feeling they now had to protect the rights that they had campaigned for already as they did not want to lose the lives they had slowly improved for themselves. This made them think that them fighting for women’s suffrage would able them to keep their rights achieved already for definite.

Another point to consider would be the confidence that the women had gained from being involved in other campaigns. An example of this would be when women campaigned as part of the anti-slavery movement from 1760-1830 and only three years later slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. These kinds of acts would show MP’s what women were capable of. Their confidence grew and made women feel that they could achieve their goal of the right to vote in 1870.

Further explanation for the campaign developing after 1870 was when they found out MP John Mill was on their side and backed them up saying that women are equal and should be given the vote. He presented at parliament but was defeated, this gave women confidence and may have been the final push the women needed to become serious about their campaign

In conclusion, the most important reason for the development of a campaign for women’s suffrage after 1870 is the confidence that the women had gained. Before 1870 the women were building up their experiences and respect as working citizens with some equal rights to men. Without gaining experience from other campaigns the women would not have the skills to carry out their acts successfully. There were clear links between the Mp John Mill being on their side and women being able to vote on local elections which all boosted the women’s confidence as to how they felt they could campaign for the right to vote in 1870.

Naomi Sutherland 10A