Suffragettes helped as much as they could and even organised a march through London to try and persuade men to let them work for the war effort. Men didn’t want to give their jobs to women because they thought when they came back from the war the may not be able to get their jobs back and also they thought they might be paid less if they did get their jobs back because women were being paid less.
Women were used in the armed forces by setting up a women nursing group and driving men and weapons to where they needed to be. They also formed the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps, the Women’s Royal Navy Service and Women’s Royal Air Force. These were all a great help to the army and if women hadn’t helped, men would have had to do these jobs so there would have been less to be in the army, fighting.
Women worked in munitions factories but the conditions were awful. The women could become ill and infertile but continued working because they made £3 a week and liked to show men they could help with the war. They wanted to prove they could be responsible and work just as well as men could. Women also did many other jobs men had left when they joined the armed forces. For example women became farmers, bus conductresses and guards.
After the war attitudes to women were changed because they had proved that they could work and didn’t just want to, or need to, sit at home all day or wash or cook or look after children. When men came home they were given their old jobs back so women did have to give them up. Women were still being prejudiced against, but after the war they were allowed to wear trousers and smoke, which meant some peoples views of women had changed, which was a good sign.
Although the war managed to change many people’s opinions of women and it was a main reason that soon after the end of the war women over 30 were given the vote, there were other factors too. In 1916 the law was changed to give all men aged 21 and above the vote because they had been forced to join the army and then would have been told they couldn’t vote because they didn’t have the jobs that had previously made men ‘qualify’ for the vote. Also they had been fighting for their government and when the war was won it would have been unfair if they hadn’t been able to vote for the government. This made it an easy time to also change the law and let some women vote too. Attitudes to women were changing especially by MP’s, and the war helped accelerate this change, so it was a good time to give women the vote.
During the war, Suffragettes had stopped being violent for four years and so it was a good opportunity to give women the vote without the MP’s appearing to support their violent methods. Also parliament wanted to give women the vote before they had a chance to start up their militant campaign again because the war had stopped.
Votes for Women was brought to many people s attention because of the Suffragettes methods so they played an important part in the change in the law being made. Also the Suffragists helped because they were what the Suffragettes had come from and also they hadn’t stopped campaigning for 50-60 years so many people began to recognise how serious they were about this and how important it was to them.
Overall I think one of the main reasons women over thirty were given the vote in 1918 was their contribution to the war but I don’t think it was the only reason. Every effort made by the Suffragettes and Suffragists went on to help the cause and persuade more people to support Votes for Women and eventually change the law.
