GCSE
History
Paper
Two
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Women could not vote in Parliamentary elections.
Married women had limited control over their children and their own property.
They had limited rights in marriage and divorce cases.
Women in the
in the 1890s
Women could Women
could
not be employed as lawyers and only one or two became doctors.
SSome middle‐
iddl
class women could vote for local councils.
Women were less‐well paid than men
than men.
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What were the arguments against women having the vote?
Women and men live in Separate Spheres:
Women could not fight in the army:
Many people believed that men and women were so different that they had to lead separate lives this was known as Separate
they had to lead separate lives—this was known as Separate Spheres. In other words there was a man’s world of work, politics, business and money and a woman’s world of home and children. Some people argued that this was a natural thing and that it was even he will of God.
Some suggested that only men should vote as they were the only ones who would fight if Parliament decided to go to war If women
ones who would fight if Parliament decided to go to war. If women had the vote they could vote for a war, but they would not have to go and fight in it—this was seen as unfair.
The basis for this argument was that women were weaker than men (both physically and mentally and that they would not be able to cope with politics. It was felt that it would be cruel to ask a woman to worry about such things as voting. It was also suggested y
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that pregnant women or women who were at certain points in the menstrual cycle would be to unstable to vote.
The British Empire stretched around the world and covered many different religions. Some of those religions (especially the Muslims) would not obey a country that allowed women to vote.
Generally women were seen as being too weak, stupid absent minded fickle bad tempered and moody to vote!
minded, fickle, bad tempered and moody to vote!
Empire:
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Not all men could vote:
Not all men had the vote so why should all women.
Women were represented by their husbands:
Many women simply did not want the vote:
Some opponents of votes for women pointed out that most women were not actually asking for the vote. It was suggested that the women who were asking for the vote were single women who could not find a man or were simply lesbians. Real women were more concerned with their home husbands and Children
were more concerned with their home, husbands and Children.
Women, it was suggested already had a vote—their husbands. It was said that when a husband or father voted he was casting a vote for the whole family so women were represented anyway.
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What were the arguments in favour of women having the vote?
Giving women the vote would make society more equal:
Women were treated unequally to men in many ways. It was argued that if you gave women the vote then they would be able to make Parliament change laws on employment, marriage, divorce and property so women would be equal members of society.
Some men were given the vote even if they were poor and uneducated:
Some campaigners argued that some of the working class men Some
campaigners argued that some of the working class men
who had been given the vote in 1867 and 1884 were poor and had a low level of education. The campaigners said that it was wrong for educated middle class women to be excluded from the vote when some poorer men already had it.
Giving women the vote would make society more moral:
Many people at the start of the 20th Century were very concerned with morals and religion. It was argued that if women had the vote then they would be able to make Parliament change laws on
then they would be able to make Parliament change laws on morality. They said that laws on prostitution, sexual abuse and drinking would be passed if women had the vote. It was also suggested that politics in general would be more sensible and caring if women had the vote
sensible and caring if women had the vote. Women had proved themselves to be valuable and capable members of society:
Women had started to work in many areas of life that had been previously reserved for men. Women were working in politics (in local government and as party workers at election time) the law,
local government and as party workers at election time) the law, education and medicine. This proved that they were more than capable of using the vote. This destroyed the idea of “Separate Spheres”.
Parliament’s decisions affected both men and women:
Parliament made laws that had an impact on the lives of women Parliament
made laws that had an impact on the lives of women
but there were no women voters. How could men claim to understand women’s issues? Also women had special skills and knowledge that made them important to politics—if they were given the vote they could provide help and support on these issues.
Women paid taxes and owned property:
Women paid taxes that were set by Parliament but they were not allowed to vote for Parliament or have a say in how the money was spent. Many campaigners argued this was wrong.
4
The campaign to get the vote for women started in the mid-19th
mid 19th Century.
Century
Some proposals were put before Parliament but they failed.
Who were Who
were
the Suffragists?
In 1867, Lydia Becker, an educated middle class woman set up the
Manchester Society for Women
Women’ss Suffrage.
Suffrage (Suffrage means the right to vote).
vote)
They campaigned to get the vote for women. Similar groups were set up in
Bristol, Birmingham, London and Edinburgh. At first nothing really came from
these campaigns
campaigns.
In 1897 another educated middle class woman, Millicent Fawcett started a new
organisation that aimed to unite the smaller groups into one national body. It
was called the National Union of Women’s
Women s Suffrage Societies or NUWSS.
NUWSS
The NUWSS are sometimes called the Suffragists.
Leader
Millicent Fawcett.
Membership
By 1914 there were 400 branches and 100,000 members.
Mainly middle class women. However some working class women joined in the North and even men joined.
Tactics
Moderate and peaceful
Marches
Making speeches
Giving lectures
Writing letters, articles and books
Working alongside MPs and politicians in a peaceful
way
Petitions to Parliament and the Prime Minister
Trying to educate men into believing women deserved
the vote
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Who were Who
were
the Suffragettes?
Leader
Emmeline
Pankhurst
Some women were angry that the NUWSS was making slow progress and not getting omen the vote They disliked the peaceful tactics of the NUWSS and said
getting omen the vote. They disliked the peaceful tactics of the NUWSS and said they were not the right ones to win the vote for women. As a result, in 1903, Emmeline Pankhurst (along with her daughters Christabel and Sylvia) set up a new organisaiton—The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) or Suffragettes. The WSPU was much more militant and used direct action to get its message across.
Membership
Tactics
Violent and illegal
Marches
Making speeches
Mainly middle- and upper-class
Writing letters, articles and books
women. Very few working class
Arson
women and
d no men as th
they were
Breaking windows
banned from joining
Assaulting MPs
Disrupting meetings
s upt g pub
public
ce
events
e ts
Disrupting
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Th
The campaign for the vote –
i f h
a timeline.
i li
1906
1907
Liberal Party wins a big victory in the General Election. The new Prime Minister Sir Henry Pi
Mi i
Si H
Campbell‐Bannerman is a supporter of votes for women but his party is divided over what to do.
The NUWSS organises processions in London. Over 3000
3000 women take part. The k
Th
weather is bad and the procession is nicknamed the “Mud March”. The march gains publicity for the movement.
NUWSS campaigns and meetings continue.
1908
1909
Herbert Asquith becomes Prime Minister. He is against V
Votes for Women.
f W
WSPU carries on with direct action and there are many arrests. The women in prison Th
i
i
go on hunger strike and many After Asquith does nothing to nearly die. The government help the women’s campaign the orders the force feeding of the WSPU begins a campaign of women in prison.
window smashing. They also chain themselves to the railings outside the Houses of Parliament and 10 Downing Street
Street.
WSPU members protest at the Houses of Parliament and they are arrested and sent to prison.
WSPU starts to protest at WSPU
t t t
t t t
political meetings. These meetings are disrupted and arrests are made.
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1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
The WSPU calls off its violent campaigns and p g
agrees to meet with Asquith and the NUWSS. They hope Asquith will produce a Conciliation Bill that will give women that will give women
the vote. This does not happen.
WSPU drop their violent campaigns and start to p g
negotiate again. The Liberals do not introduce votes for women. Instead they look at giving the vote to all
giving the vote to all men. The WSPU start their campaign again.
WSPU introduce a campaign of window p g
smashing. There are many arrests and hunger strikes. The government introduces force feeding in prison
in prison.
Violence increases. Buildings are bombed g
and set on fire. Letter boxes are set alight and golf courses are dug up. WSPU violence escalates. Public opinion p
is now firmly against the suffragettes violent methods. Women are banned from galleries and
and Museums after WSPU damage exhibits.
WSPU protest and many of them are arrested. f h
d
During the arrests many women are physically and sexually assaulted by the policemen. This was called “Black Friday”.
The Government
The Government introduces the “Cat and Mouse Act”. Women on hunger strike are allowed to go on hunger strike in prison. When ik i
i
Wh
they became ill they were released and then re‐arrested when they had recovered.
When the Great War b k
breaks out the WSPU h WSPU
promise to help with the war effort—WSPU prisoners are released.
Emily Davison (a member of the WSPU) throws herself under the King’ss horse at the Derby King
horse at the Derby
horserace. She is killed.
NUWSS carry on their peaceful campaign of t i t i
trying to win over the th
support of Parliament.
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Tactics used Tactics
used
to get the Vote
As we have seen
seen, the NUWSS (Suffragists) used a number of
peaceful and legal methods to try and get women the vote. They:
Made speeches at meetings.
Published leaflets, books and articles.
Met with MPs and members of the government and organised
petitions.
The WSPU also used these tactics. They printed a newspaper called
“V t for
“Votes
f Women”
W
” held
h ld marches
h and
d publicity
bli it stunts.
t t
Some women felt that these tactics were ineffective and did not help
get women the vote.
The WSPU (Suffragettes) also used these methods,
methods but they also
used more direct methods.
The WSPU used a wider range of illegal methods to try and convince Th
WSPU
d
id
f ill l
th d t t
d
i
Parliament to grant them the vote. These methods certainly gained a great deal of publicity and made people talk about the campaigns in a way that no one had done so before.
Civil Disobedience
Some women refused to pay taxes. They said that Parliament set taxes but as they could not vote for Parliament they would not pay their
Some women refused to pay taxes. They said that Parliament set taxes but as they could not vote for Parliament they would not pay their taxes. In 1911 some women refused to take part in the census. They stayed out overnight on the day of the census so they could not be counted. In some places the women went ice skating to avoid being counted!
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Attacking People
The WSPU singled out individuals for attack. Women hit men with their umbrellas and heckled them in the streets. MPs, government ministers and prison officials were all victims of WSPU attacks The Liberal party banned women from all of their meetings so women hid in
ministers and prison officials were all victims of WSPU attacks. The Liberal party banned women from all of their meetings, so women hid in the halls until the meeting started and them emerged to disrupt the meeting. On other occasions they abseiled from sky‐lights.
Attacking Property
Window smashing was one of the first attacks on property and was a spontaneous response to Parliament rejecting votes for women. After that the WSPU organised the smashing of the windows of government buildings, gentlemen’s clubs and famous shops.
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Arson was also a tactic used. Houses, public buildings, churches and sporting venues were all victims of WSPU attacks. Emily Davison planted a bomb in Lloyd George’s newly‐built house—a strange thing to do as he was a supporter of votes for women.
Art works in public galleries were slashed, post boxes set on fire, telegraph wires were cut and golf courses damaged with acid.
Hunger Strikes
Hunger strikes started in 1909 as a way of forcing the authorities to recognise suffragette prisoners as political prisoners rather than just ordinary criminals. The attraction of hunger strikes for the WSPU was that they won sympathy for the prisoners. Votes for Women was full of stories about the agonies these women suffered. These accounts grew more harrowing when the authorities decided to start force‐
feeding the women who were refusing to eat..
Some women barricaded themselves into their cells and hosepipes of cold water were used to end their protests. The hunger strikes put
Some women barricaded themselves into their cells and hosepipes of cold water were used to end their protests. The hunger strikes put the Government on the back foot for a while, until they retaliated with the 'Cat and Mouse Act'
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Did the violent tactics help women get the vote?
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They made female suffrage front page news. They brought it to the attention of the public and the Government. The violence played into the hands of the Government. It gave them an excuse not to give in to the suffragettes. They could argue that it was wrong to give in to violence. Once the issue of votes for women had been raised, and once it had received so much publicity, it was not going to go away Sooner or later, women would be given the vote.
be given the vote.
There were times when the Government appeared to be close to agreeing to female suffrage, but it could not be seen to be giving in to violence. There is evidence that, as time passed, the idea of women having the vote was no longer so strange. People were gradually getting used to the, idea and beginning to accept it
beginning to accept it. Asquith was already firmly against women getting the vote, so the violent methods did not make things any worse. Asquith's views, and his Government's harsh treatment of the suffragettes, were not caused by the violence of the suffragettes.
The violence turned moderate men, especially moderate MPs, against the idea of votes for women. This is why bills in the House of Commons to give women the vote were always defeated. The violence supported the view that women were not responsible enough to have the vote. They were too emotional and hysterical. In 1913 and 1914, the NUWSS was growing in popularity at d
h
l
the expense of the WSPU. Some women were turning away from violence.
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Cat and Mouse Act
Cat and Mouse Act
The Government dealt with protesters harshly, even before they used violence. This suggests that the Government was hostile to the women from the beginning and that its harsh actions were not merely a reaction to the later violent methods of the suffragettes.
First, women were banned from Liberal meetings, but much worse was to come on Black Friday in November 1910. When the women protesters tried to enter Parliament the police reacted brutally. Women were beaten their clothes ripped and their
Women were beaten, their clothes ripped and their most intimate parts were groped and grabbed. Many were arrested.
Imprisonment and Force Feeding
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Once the protesters were in prison, the authorities tried to humiliate them. They were treated as ordinary criminals; they were not allowed to speak and were called by their number rather than by
and were called by their number rather than by their name. They had to scrub the cell floors. empty their slops (chamber pots), clean their tin bowls, and they could only have a bath once a week. Going on hunger strike was a reaction to these conditions. The authorities responded by force‐
feeding prisoners. This was a terrifying experience.
The Cat and Mouse Act
The next reaction by the Government was the Prisoners, Temporary Discharge for Health Act Pop larl
Discharge for Health, Act. Popularly known as the 'Cal and Mouse Act', of 1913. This allowed hunger strikers to be released to recover their health. Once they were recovered they could be re‐arrested and sent back to prison to serve the rest of their sentence. When it was discussed in Parliament, a few MPs did speak against it. They
few MPs did speak against it. They criticised it because it punished the women several times over. Despite these protests it was passed by 296 votes to 43. In 1913, Emmeline
Pankhurst was in and out of prison 12
Pankhurst was in and out of prison 12 times. As a result she grew weaker and weaker.
The reaction of the Press
Some newspapers like The Ti
Times were totally against the ll
i
h
idea of women having the vote and they reported events in a biased way. The women were often called lunatics, and their behaviour was explained as a result of hysteria. However, it would be a mistake to say that the newspapers
to say that the, newspapers were generally against female suffrage. Indeed most probably supported it. But they also felt they had to condemn the violent methods used by the i l t
th d
d b th
suffragettes. Whenever the campaigners used peaceful methods there was much support for them in the newspapers, and when the demonstrators were assaulted sexually, as on Black Friday, papers like the Daily Mirror carried lots of photographs.
carried lots of photographs.
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What did the women do when the Great War Broke Out?
By the summer of 1914 it was not clear whether women would be granted the vote by the Liberal Government. Some Historians argue
that they were, others say they were not. However, we will never know the answer because the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914 swept aside normal politics. Over the next four years women played a new and vital role in British society.
The WSPU and NUWSS responded to the outbreak of war in different ways:
The WSPU:
Surprisingly, the Suffragettes and the Government worked together amazingly well. The WSPU helped to encourage women to go out to work. With so many men leaving to fight in Europe, Britain was short of millions of workers by 1915. Unless workers could be found for the factories and farms, Britain's role in the war might have ground to a halt. The suffragette leaders became more patriotic than many men. They renamed their paper Britannia and their organisation became the Women's Party instead of the WSPU. They demanded that military conscription be introduced and went round giving while feathers (symbols of cowardice) to any men not in military uniform. However, not all the suffragettes agreed with this approach and some left the organisation.
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The NUWSS:
Millicent Fawcett supported the war effort, declaring in August 1914, 'Women, your country needs you.' However, she opposed conscription and the giving of white feathers The NUWSS set up an employment register in 1915 and recruited many women to replace
conscription and the giving of white feathers. The NUWSS set up an employment register in 1915 and recruited many women to replace the men who had gone to the Front. It even ran training schools to train women for the new work they were to do, for example one in Notting Hill trained women to be welders. It also organised hospital units on the front lines of the war. These units employed all‐female teams of doctors. nurses and ambulance drivers.
However, the NUWSS never forgot the real reason for its existence: winning the vote. Meetings were still held and petitions were still signed: this ensured that pressure was kept on Parliament. Some women even left the NUWSS so that they could devote all their time to campaigning for the vote.
.
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When and How did Women Get The Vote?
How the vote was won
After all the struggles for the vote before the war, the way women eventually won the vote was almost an anti‐climax. Preparations for reform started in 1916. This was mainly because thousands of men who had volunteered to fight for their country had lost their right to vote; the law said that anyone away from home for more than a year lost this right. The Government obviously had to do something about this and started to plan. Millicent Fawcett and the NUWSS heard about this and began to put pressure on the Government to consider also the issue of votes for women. 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 voted on the issue, 385 MPs voted in favour, and 55 voted against.
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On 6 February 1918, the Bill was given royal assent and became law. This is what it did:
• Women over the age of 30 were given the vote.
• Women over the age of 30 were allowed to become MPs.
• All men over the age of 21 were given the vote.
This meant that out of an electorate of 21 million, 8 million were women. This was not everything that women had fought for as they still did not have the vote on the same terms as men. There were two reasons for this:
• The Government was worried about there being more women voters than men.
• The Government was worried about young women being 'flighty' and not responsible enough to have the vote.
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