VOTES FOR WOMEN REVISION

The social and legal position of women in the 1890s:

Victorians believed that womans role in life was as a wife and a mother.

Working class women:

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Before 1870, most working class girls didnt go to school. State schools were set up in 1870 and in 1890 it was

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compulsory for all children between 5-10 to attend. By 1900 97% of children could read and write. However
there were different types of lessons for girls and boys. Girls learned to cook, laying a table, sew etc. Nearly

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all working-class women would have to go out to work, as they needed the money. Towards the end of 19th
century there were new jobs were women, e.g. typists and on telephone switchboards the hours were very

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long, women often had to leave when they married and they got paid less than men.

Middle and upper class women:

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They were usually educated at home by a governess their main aim of their education was to make them good
wives and mother. Middle class girls were given more freedom. Towards the end of the 19th century many girls

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did attend school but it was difficult for women to go on to higher education or to train for professions like
medicine or law. In the 1870s when Sophia Jex-Blake completed her course to become a doctor Edinburgh
University refused to give her a degree.

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New employer opportunities were opening up for middle-class women:

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Teaching (but female teachers had to be single)
Nurses (they had to resign when they married)
Clerical work (typists & telephonists)

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By 1900, women could become doctors and architects but were not allowed to be lawyers.

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ARGUMENTS AGAINST
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ARGUMENTS FOR/AGAINST VOTES FOR WOMEN
Dangerous to change a system that works,
making a big change could upset the stability
of the system.
Women are represented by their husbands,
they didnt want husbands to have 2 votes
wives were expected to have the same political
views as their husbands.
Womens role in local affairs, the anti-
suffragettes did believe that women should be
active citizens, but their roles were to
contribute to the community not by voting in
national elections.
Women do not fight for GB, this was based on
the idea that people earned the right to vote
because they are wiling to fight for their
country.
ARGUMENTS FOR
Changes in womens roles, many women were
going to work
Voting is a right not a privilege, women pay
taxes just like men.
Women were capable of involvement in politics;
women should be able to influence MPs on how
that money is spent.
Other countries had enfranchised women,
Britain was falling behind other countries, by
1914 many women in the USA had the vote as
well as in New Zealand and parts of Australia.
Britain is not a true democracy, Britain couldnt
claim to be a democratic country if over half of
its adult population (women didnt have the
right to vote.
 Separate sphere theory, some people believed
that women were suited to the private sphere
of life (e.g. cooking)
Most women do not want to vote, the
opponents of the suffragettes argued that the
vast majority of women didnt want the vote
and had no interest in public affairs.
SUFFRAGETTES & SUFFRAGISTS
SUFFRAGETTES SUFFRAGISTS
(WSPU, Womens Social and Political Union) (NUWSS, National Union of Womens
Emmeline Pankhurst and her 2 Society)
daughters Christabel & Sylvia founded
the WSPU in 1903.
The WSPU had branches all over the
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country but the members did not
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choose its leaders, the Pankhursts
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controlled it.
The Pankhursts formed the WSPU
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because they were impatient with the
peaceful methods of the NUWSS.
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In 1905 Christabel and Anne Kenney
demonstrated a new methods of the
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suffragettes by attending a meeting of
the Liberal Party, they began shouting
out Will the Liberal Gov. give women
the vote? The police tried to remove
them but Christabel spat on his face
and then hit him in the mouth. She was
arrested and charged with assault, she
was given the choice between a fine or
7 days imprisonment. She went to prison
the case attracted massive publicity.
The suffragettes learned a simple
lesson from this: militancy was news.
Men were not allowed to join
The vote is a way of removing other
inequalities, by 1900 women were still unequal
to men in many ways, some women believed that
the only way to change this was to get the
vote.
Improvement in mens moral & sexual behavior,
one of the slogan of the WSPU was votes for
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women and chastity for men and some
suffragettes (e.g. Christabel Pankhurst)
believed that giving women the vote would help
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improve mens sexual behavior.
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Suffrage
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In 1866, campaigners collected 1,500
signatures for a petition demanding the
vote for women.
In 1867 Lydia Becker formed the
Manchester Society for Womens
Suffrage, similar societies were set up
in London, Bristol, Birmingham and
Edinburgh.
The women kept the cause alive by
writing, lecturing and organizing more
petitions.
In 1897 Millicent Fawcett linked many
of the different womens organisations
into the NUWSS, she became the
president for over 20 years.
By 1914, it had more than 400 branches
and over 100,000 members it was a
democratic organisation.
Many of the women members were
middle class and were often involved in
other womens right issues.
Men were also allowed to join & some
did!
 METHODS USED:
Peaceful and Legal & Violent and Illegal
Peaceful and Legal: mainly used by the Suffragists
Violent and Illegal: mainly used by the Suffragettes

SUFFRAGETTES
(WSPU, Womens Social and Political Union)
SUFFRAGISTS
(NUWSS, National Union of Womens
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HUNGER STRIKES > FORCE FEEDING:

Society)

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Hunger strikes started in 1909 as a way
of forcing the authorities to recognize

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PROPAGANDA: the NUWSS used leaflets and

suffragette prisoners as political

prisoners. The government retaliated
with the Cat and Mouse Act- they were

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PETITIONS (both WSPU & NUWSS used
petitions): Petitions were drawn up and sent to

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parliament. To show government that they have
released to recover, when they were
well enough they were out back into
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support they could be ignored if the
government wants to. The petitions in 1910
prison. The Gov. got annoyed because
they werent completing their sentence.

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250,000 signatures. Women met with MPs to

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VANDALISM: window smashing was one try to persuade them to support votes for
of the first types of violence used, it women.

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started as a spontaneous reaction to
the repeated failure of suffrage bills
MEETINGS (both WSPU & NUWSS held
meetings): they were usually ignored; they want

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but the WSPU used this as a deliberate
tactics. The windows of the government

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buildings were favourite targets.
it to be written in the times. Many people at
the time thought that it was unladylike to
attend these kinds of events. These

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ASSAULT OF PEOPLE: sometimes demonstrations grew larger and larger. This
individuals were singled out by the kept the issue of votes for women in the public

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suffragettes for attack e.g. doctors eye. However, this depends hugely on publicity.
who refused to denounce force-feeding.
An axe was thrown at the prime
minister and only narrowly missed him.
Every time this happen, the movement
gained the publicity negative.
PROPAGANDA: The WSPU published a
newspaper called Votes for Women
their slogan. They used their colours
(purple, white, green) to sell clothes,
dolls, jewellery etc. They also used
sashes , posters, postcards and leaflets.
 DID THE VIOLENT METHODS OF THE
SUFFRAGETTES HELP?

NO YES

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The violence played into the hands of the Gov. They made female suffrage front page news,
It gave them an excuse not to give in to the they brought it to the attention of the public

suffragette.
There were times when the Gov. appeared to
and the Gov.

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Once the issue of votes for women had been
be close to agreeing to female suffrage, but it
could be seen as giving in to violence.
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raised and once it had received so much
publicity, it was not going to go away.

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The violence turned moderate men, especially
moderate MPs, against the idea of votes for
women. This is why bills in the House of

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Theres evidence that, as time passed, the idea
of women having the vote was no longer so

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strange. People were gradually getting used to

Commons to give women the vote were always
defeated.
The violence supported the view that women
were not responsible enough to have the vote.

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the idea and beginning to accept it.
Asquith was already firmly against women
getting the vote, so the violent methods did
make things any worse, Asquiths views, and his

They were too emotional & hysterical.
In 1913 and 1914, the NUWSS was growing in
. w Gov.s harsh treatment of the suffragettes,
were not caused by the violence of the
popularity at the expense of the WSPU. Some
women were turning away from violence.

e s suffragettes.

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BLACK FRIDAY 18/11/1910

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The protests came in response to parliamentary proceedings regarding the Conciliation Bill, which would have
extended the right of women to vote in Britain and Ireland to around 1,000,000 wealth, property-owning
women The bill made it to a second reading, but British Prime MinisterHerbert Henry Asquithindicated that
there would be no more Parliamentary time for the reading in the current session.

In response the WSPU sent around 300 women to protest and 200 were assaulted when they attempted to
run past the police, many of the arrested suffragettes reported being assaulted and manhandles by the police.
It was the first documented use of police force against suffragettes. 119 men and women were arrested.

Aftermath
The events were a public relations disaster for the Gov. the press took side of the Suffragettes. The actions
of the police were greatly criticised. After Black Friday, Asquith stated that if theLiberalswere elected at
thenext general election, they would include a Suffrage Bill that could be amended to allow women to vote.
The WSPU rejected this, believing that it was an attempt to delay reform; the events of Black Friday were
damaging to the suffrage campaign as well, as they caused MPs to distance themselves from the issue.
 EMILY DAVISONS DEATH
On 4 June 1913, the day of the world-famous horse race, the Derby, at
Epsom racecourse. There were the royal family, political leaders and many
Reporters and photographers anything that happened at the Derby was big news.
It was an ideal day for publicising the Suffragettes cause. Emily Davison was an
experienced campaigner. As the kings horse rounded Tattenham Corner, Emily
rushed out and tried to catch hold of the horse. She was thrown to the grown,
her skull fatally fractured by a blow from a horses hoof and 4 days later she died
of her injuries (8th June 1913). Many people at the time thought she was trying
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to kill herself but a different explanation later emerged, that Emily thought it

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would be good publicity to attach a Suffragette banner to it as it galloped by and
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that it would enter the finishing line, literally flying the Suffragette flag. She had
been practising stopping horses in a lane near her home in Morpeth for some weeks previously.
Her funeral was attended by thousands of Suffragettes.

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GETTING THE VOTE IN 1918! e

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Preparations for reform started in 1916, this was mainly because thousands of
men

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who had volunteered to fight had lost their right to vote; the lad said that anyone
away from their home for more than a year lost this right.

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A conference on electoral reform was set up to produce recommendations, in 1917
it recommended that some women should be given the vote. Later in 1917, when the House of Commons

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voted on the issue, 385 MPs voted in favour & 55 voted against.

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On 6th February 1918, the Bill was given royal assent and became the law
Women over the age of 30 were given the vote

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Women over the age of 30 were allowed to become MPs
All men over the age of 21 were given the vote

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WHY DID WOMEN GET THE VOTE IN 1918?

Issue 1: Why was the idea of women getting the vote being considered at all? Many historians
argued that both the NUWSS & WSPU made votes for women an issue that wouldnt go away the
ideas of votes for women was put on the front page of many newspapers.
Issue 2: Why was the year 1918 the year the got the vote?
Lloyd George replaced Asquith as Prime Minister in 1916. He was more sympathetic to the idea
of votes for women.
Soldier who went to fight had lost the right to vote.
The war gave MPs an excuse to give up their opposition.
Many men were impressed by womens contribution to the war effort.
The Gov. was afraid that the Suffragettes would restart their campaigns after the war.
 THE SUFFRAGE BILL
TheRepresentation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928was anActof theParliament of the United
Kingdom. This act expanded on theRepresentation of the People Act 1918which had given some women the
vote in Parliamentary elections for the first time afterWorld War I. The 1928 Act widened suffrage by
giving women electoral equality with men. It gave the vote to all women over 21 years old, regardless of
property ownership. Prior to this act only women over 30 who met minimum property qualifications could vote.

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