WOMEN AND THE VOTE. An evaluation of the reasons why women won greater political equality by 1928 Political Advantage Changing attitudes to women.

WOMEN AND THE VOTE

An evaluation of the reasons why women won greater political equality by 1928

Political Advantage

Changing attitudes to women in society:

the women’s suffrage campaigns;

the militant Suffragette campaign up to 1914;

the part played by women in the war effort, 1914–18;

the example of other countries.

Votes for women- overview

The contribution made by women to the war effort in factories, in transport and on farms for example raised the profile of women and demonstrated to doubters how responsible women could be. Without them the war might have been lost. However, there were other reasons why women were given the vote in 1918. The Suffragist and Suffragette campaigns in the years before 1914 had kept the issue in the minds of the Government and the public – even if the Suffragette violence had put off many supporters of votes for women.

Overview cntud

Also the position of women in society had improved gradually and the right to vote was seen as another step forward towards equality.

In other countries such as New Zealand and Australia women could vote – so why not in Britain? Many of the newly elected MPs were now in favour of votes for women. However, only women over 30 and who were householders or married to householders were given the vote. Many younger women who had undertaken dangerous war work in the factories did not get the vote until 1928!

OVERALL ARGUMENT

1. Political Advantage= MOST IMPORTANT-

Q. How do we know this?

A. look at who they gave the vote to!

Other Factors- you can pick your own importance BUT MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A REASON TO BACK IT UP!

Changing attitudes to women in society:- relied on other factors e.g war work and women being organised into campaigns

the women’s suffrage campaigns;- Good but didn’t actually give them the vote

the militant Suffragette campaign up to 1914;- publicity but turned some away.

the part played by women in the war effort, 1914–18;- changed attitude but not involved in changing the law i.e women over 30.

the example of other countries. – might have had some pressure but not enough to change the law (not all women given the vote) and close Ally and neighbour France HAD NOT given women the vote yet either.

WOMEN AND THE VOTEBACKGROUND

background

For Against

Women are equal before God.A woman's place is in the home; going out into the rough world of politics will change her caring nature.

Women already have the vote in local elections.

Many women do not want the vote, and would not use it if they got it.

Women pay taxes. Women do not fight in wars.Some women (eg doctors and mayors) are far better than some men (eg convicts and lunatics) who have the vote.

The vast mass of women are too ignorant of politics to be able to use their vote properly.

Other countries have given women the vote.

If women are given the vote, it will not be the gentle intelligent women who will stand for Parliament, but the violent Suffragettes. Parliament will be ruined.

The arguments for and against women's suffrage

Background info

“different spheres”- woman's place in the home.

Women as belonging to their husbands

Task read p.27&28 of the textbook and sum it up in 3 sentences you can use in your introduction.

POLITICAL ADVANTAGE

POLITICAL ADVANTAGE

Party politics

There is also evidence to suggest that, in the pre-war period, the Liberal government had been pressurising prospective MPs to support women's suffrage.

There had been meetings between the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, and representatives from suffrage organisations to discuss the matter. Asquith had even gone as far as replacing members of his government who were unsympathetic to the suffrage movement with those who were. This kind of negotiation had taken place many times previously, and nothing had come of them, but that is not to say these would have fizzled out too.

background

Some working class men could vote

During the 19th century, the franchise was extended to include more men both in the Second Reform Act 1867 and the Third Reform Act 1884.

Only about 58% of the adult male population could vote before 1918, the remainder being ineligible due to residency qualifications or other restrictions. Only men who had been resident in the country for 12 months prior to a general election were entitled to vote.

This effectively disenfranchised a large number of troops who had been serving overseas in the war. With a general election imminent, politicians were persuaded to extend the vote to all men and some women at long last.

Representation of the People Act 1918

In 1918 the Representation of the People Act was passed which allowed women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification to vote. Although 8.5 million women met this criteria, it only represented 40 per cent of the total population of women in the UK.

The same act abolished property and other restrictions for men, and extended the vote to all men over the age of 21. Additionally, men in the armed forces could vote from the age of 19. The electorate increased from eight to 21 million, but there was still huge inequality between women and men.

British Politics

Labour

Conservatives

Liberals

Supported by the rich upper classes

Supported mainly by the well off middle classes

Brand new party, will be supported by the working class but most working class men don’t have the vote yet.

Political Advantage

Political advantage says the reason women got the vote was not because they deserved it but because the Liberals and Conservatives were worried they would lose power when all working class men voted Labour. Most historians feel this is the main reason women got the vote in 1918.

Politics

The act only enfranchised women over 30. Many of the women who had worked in the fields and in munitions factories were under 30 and therefore did not get the right to vote. There was a belief among politicians that women over 30 were more able to understand the intricacies of politics and that they would be less likely to support radical ideas. It was also reckoned that women over 30 would be more likely to be married with children – also making them less likely to belong to radical movement with radical ideas.

EvidenceLOOK AT WHO GOT THE VOTE!

It was women over 30. If they had done it for “moral” reasons then they would have given it to all women.

Pugh- Votes for Women in Britain 1867-1928 Historical Association, New Appreciations in History- “ Extending the right to vote gad never been simply a matter if weighing arguments of principle; politicians were often much more concerned about the practical implications for their parties or their lot as MP’s”

Push (as above) – “ Conservatives found it easier to accept the women’s vote as part of a wider package . For them the real problem had been class rather than sex; once they had accepted the enfranchisement of working class men, there seemed little point in holding out against women. Indeed some Tories regarded female voters as a compensating factor for their party”

SUFFRAGISTS

NUWSS

National Union of Women's Suffrage societies

Formed in 1897 and led by Millicent Fawcett.

Peaceful protest

1910 petition with 250,000 signatures in favour of women gaining the vote

Propaganda e,g Newspaper “the Suffragist” 1913 spent £45,000 on publicity.

Protests- e.g Hyde Park protest 50,000 people

Working with politicians

Sandra Holten Argues that this pre war campaigning was important in raising awareness of the topic.

By 1900 there was already evidence that many Members of Parliament had been won over. Several Bills in favour of women's suffrage gained considerable support in Parliament, though not enough to pass

Notes

Read p. 33 and take notes about the Suffragists

SUFFRAGETTES

Emmeline Pankhurst

suffragettes video

1909 the WSPU had branches all over the country and published a newspaper called Votes for Women which sold 20,000 copies each week.

methods From the early 20th century some women who pursued militant methods of campaigning

were known by the initially derogatory term 'suffragettes', a description first used by the Daily Mail in 1906

heckled politicians,

held marches,

members chained themselves to railings

attacked policemen

broke windows

slashed paintings

set fire to buildings,

threw bombs and went on hunger strike when they were sent to prison.

October 1908 when it encouraged the public to join them in an attempt to invade the House of Commons. 60,000 people gathered but the police cordon held fast

The first hunger strike was undertaken by Marion Wallace-Dunlop in 1909 as a protest when she was not given political prisoner status in prison. She had been arrested for damaging a wall in St. Stephen's Hall in the Houses of Parliament. 'Cat and Mouse Act'

The Prisoners' Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health Act, also known as 'The Cat and Mouse Act' was passed in 1913.

Male militants- Some men actively played a part in militant suffragette activity. One man who played a leading role was Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, joint editor of the publication 'Votes for Women' with his wife Emmeline. Frederick Pethick-Lawrence was imprisoned, went on hunger-strike and was forcibly fed on many occasions. He was an MP between 1923 and 1931, and remained influential in Parliament as an elder statesman in the House of Lords later in life.

Emily Wilding Davison

Emily Wilding Davison was particularly committed to 'deeds not words', notably hiding in the House of Commons on a number of occasions, including on Census night in April 1911 when she spent the night in a cupboard in the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft in order to state 'House of Commons' as her address on her census return.

She was imprisoned eight times for offences including assault and stone-throwing. Her final, and most dramatic, act was to step out in front of the King's horse at the Epsom Derby in June 1913. It is unclear whether she intended to commit suicide, but she died soon afterwards of her injuries.

At one point, Churchill proclaimed that "their cause has marched backwards".

“The argument of the broken pane of glass is the most valuable argument in modern politics.- Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst, speaking on 16 February 1911 .

In spite of their mistakes, the militants revitalised the women’s suffrage movement. Something more than the traditional constitutional methods was needed. Believing their cause to be just, it is no wonder that many supported Emily Wilding Davison’s motto: ‘Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God’. Constance Rover: Women's Suffrage and Party Politics (1967

The madness of the militants… the small body of misguided women who profess to represent the noble and serious cause of political enfranchisement of women, but in fact do their utmost to degrade and hinder it. Manchester Guardian ( 2 March 1912 )

At the height of the WSPU’s window-breaking campaign Nothing could indicate more plainly their lack of fitness to be entrusted with the exercise of political power. Morning Post ( 2 March 1912 )

Haven’t the Suffragettes the sense to see that the very worst way of campaigning for the vote is to try and intimidate a man into giving them what he would gladly give otherwise? - Lloyd George, speaking in 1913.

A deed of this kind is not likely to increase the popularity of any cause with the ordinary public. Reckless fanaticism is not regarded by them as a qualification for the vote.’ ‘There can be no doubt that yesterday’s exhibition did more harm than good for the cause of women’s suffrage.’ ‘The Times’ – after Emily Davison’s death

QUOTES (more historiography at the end)

Notes

Read p.34-37 and take notes about the Suffragettes

(make sure to copy evidence about their importance/unimportance)

WAR WORK- Argument

Between 1914 and 1918, an estimated two million women replaced men in employment, resulting in an increase in the proportion of women in total employment from 24 per cent in July 1914 to 37 per cent by November 1918.

“The highly skilled and dangerous work done by women during the war was probably the greatest �factor in the granting of the vote to women.” Lewis- this means he think It was a token of gratitude for their effort during the war.

Some historians such as Arthur Marwick (War and Social Change in the Twentieth Century, 1974), have argued that while it's possible that their role in the workplace would have earned them political advancement eventually, it was the war which highlighted the economic and strategic value of women to the country.

BUT

The contribution women made during the war had an impact on attitudes to women. Politicians and the general public alike recognised that women deserved greater political rights. But it was not the only, and may not even have been the main, reason why women received the vote. Think about it. The women who benefited in 1918 were mature and married females. Young women who had contributed so much in the munitions factories and elsewhere were given no recognition by the government.

So the significance of women's war work may have been exaggerated by some historians. It's also true that the various women's political movements had prepared the ground for political recognition. Look at France for comparison, where women were not enfranchised at that time, despite their war effort. This was largely due to the fact that there was no women's suffrage movement in France pre-war

War work notes-

Read p. 38-39 AND P.20-22 and take notes about women's war work.

Make sure you have facts of the work women did in the war.

When women got the vote OTHER COUNTRIES

1918 - United Kingdom (partial), Germany, Canada, Austria.

1893 - New Zealand is the first country to give women the vote

1902 - Australia

1906 - Finland (first country in Europe).

1917 - Russia

Women and the vote- other countries

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/interactive/2011/jul/06/un-women-vote-timeline-interactive

BUT France hadn’t given women the vote.

Changing attitudes

Growth of socialism/organised Labour (more equality).

Urbanisation (people together in large numbers, small ideas spread and grow).

Spread of newspapers/transport.

Education (especially women but also men).

Change in economic role of women.

Changing views of politicians

Votes for women in other countries – New Zealand (1893), Australia (1902).

Read p. 29-30 and take notes

Social and political change

SUMMARY

RE READ P.20-22 OF YOUR TEXTBOOK AND TAKE NOTES

Why did womenget the vote in

1918?

Why did womenget the vote in

1918?

The Activities of

Suffragettes and Suffragists

The Activities of

Suffragettes and Suffragists

Women’sWar workWomen’sWar work

Government/Public sympathyGovernment/

Public sympathy

Change of Government

New MP’s more in favour

Change of Government

New MP’s more in favour

Changes in other countries

Changes in other countries

Women given the right to Vote in New

Zealand, CanadaAustralia

Women given the right to Vote in New

Zealand, CanadaAustralia

Tactics had gained

publicity before 1914

Tactics had gained

publicity before 1914

Suffragettesstopped

violence when War began

Suffragettesstopped

violence when War began

Helped the

War effort

Helped the

War effort

Did voluntary work

Did voluntary work

Worked in factories

Made shellsfor guns

Worked in factories

Made shellsfor guns

Took over Men’s jobsTook over Men’s jobs

historiography

women historians

Use hand out sheet

RESOURCES

http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/britain/votesforwomenrev1.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/history/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0544j0j- Link to BBC Programme “Suffragettes forever! The Story of Women and Power “