Josephine Butler contributed to the health and lives of women in several ways. She helped to repeal the Contagious Diseases Act, which only appealed to women. This therefore improved the health of many women, who were suffering from this act, being forced into prostitution by it. She then went on to stop child prostitution, which involved people buying children to use in brothels, often virgins, which forced them into prostitution for the rest of their lives. She publicised this, which helped bring the Criminal Law Amendment Act, which raised the age of consent from thirteen to sixteen.
The increasing freedom of women improved their lives to the point that they could vote for who they liked. Caroline Norton worked tirelessly for the freedom of women from their husbands. She fought for the right for a woman to have custody of her child, and right to her possessions and earnings after marriage. She also worked for women to have rights in a law court, to divorce their husbands and to be able to live independently from a man or husband. In all these areas she succeeded in getting new bills passed through Parliament, and the restricting laws of the time were changed, due to her unfailing work for women. Barbara Leigh Smith also improved women’s legal rights and freedom by trying to remove women’s legal disabilities with Caroline Norton. As well as all of women’s rights generally in law, she had an interest in Married Women’s Property rights. She discovered that any property, houses or possessions, owned before marriage would immediately become the property of her husband as soon as she was married, and Barbara did her best to repeal these laws, working for the freedom of women, especially those who are married.
All the Pankhursts worked tirelessly in the quest for gaining women the freedom to vote. They gave their whole lives over to the cause, and often sacrificed their health and well being for women. Annie Kenney also worked selflessly for the cause, helping the Pankhursts, often taking over leadership of the Suffragette Movement. Many other women helped to fight for the vote, including Cicely Hamilton, Emmeline Pethick, Emily Davidson, Millicent Fawcett, Elizabeth Garrett – Anderson, and Emily Davies. Josephine Butler also wanted freedom for women, in working conditions, and prostitution. She did not agree with, and fought for the reduction of the number of women forced into prostitution.
Women started to get stability in their lives as the system and laws surrounding them and their rights changed, so that they could be secure in their lives. Josephine Butler helped to increase this stability by decreasing the number of young women in prostitution, as she helped increase the age of consent to sixteen, so many more girls and also mothers were safe in the knowledge that children under sixteen would be safe from sex and prostitution. Caroline Norton added to this stability. She saw to it that married women would have stability in the event of divorce, giving them rights to their children, earnings and possessions Many people also worked very hard for women’s education, improving it so that women could be properly educated, and therefore get better jobs to improve their life. The amount of stability, political and otherwise, grew in large proportions, and the women’s movement finally gained a large amount of stability when women gained the vote. Women could now feel stable and safe, in the knowledge that they could change things in the country, especially in the political side of things.
As the population, and increasingly, women, had a better education, the lives of women improved, as they were educated to the point where they themselves could recognise when women had little right and freedom, especially compared to men, and how unfair the system at the time was. Many people helped the education of women to increase, especially at a higher level, enabling women to get into Higher Education and receive a degree at the end. Bessie Rayner Parkes and Barbara Leigh Smith together wrote a series of pamphlets on the education of girls. Barbara later went on to raise fund with Emily Davies to open the first women’s college, Girton College, at Cambridge University, which opened in 1873, although the women were not admitted full membership to Cambridge University until 1948. Elizabeth Garrett - Anderson encouraged women to become doctors by example. She did many examinations to try and become a doctor, but no one accepted her degree from the University of Paris, or the Society of Apothecaries. Therefore she set up her own hospital, staffed entirely by women, and set up a London Medical School for women, partnered by Sophia Jex – Blake. She therefore made it easier for women to enter the medical profession, and drew attention to how unfair the system was. Josephine Butler also argued for improved educational and employment opportunities for single women.
The legal attitudes towards women improved greatly due to the work of certain individuals, improving the lives of women, especially in legal battles. Caroline Norton improved the legal attitudes towards women by starting to get them noticed. She helped women gain legal identity in a court of law, as well as gain them some rights. Josephine Butler also helped to improve attitudes towards women by protecting and helping many women, including prostitutes. The Pankhursts, Annie Kenney, Cicely Hamilton and Emily Davies all helped to gain the vote, and therefore made the country sit up and take notice of women. They did decrease the good legal attitudes towards women for a while, as the Suffragette movement was not approved of, but when women got the vote in 1918, then fully in 1928, the legal attitudes to women improved, as women were then part of the electoral role, and deserved respect.
Therefore, there were many people who helped improve the lives of British women. Josephine Butler stands out from them all in the outstanding work she did in health, freedom, stability, education and legal attitudes towards women. She helped many people in the work that she did, even if she was not involved in the Women’s Suffrage movement.