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4303395-200025Holy Cross High SchoolHistory DepartmentEssay Plans 2016 IntroductionContextFor most of the nineteenth century, women in Britain had limited opportunity educationally, socially and, importantly, politically. By 1928, this trend had stopped, with women achieving the vote on the same level as men for the first time. ArgumentThis essay will argue that this trend was mostly as a result of their long term changing role in different aspects of society. FactorsHowever, it will acknowledge that other factors, like the suffragists and suffragettes played a role, as well as their role during WW1 and pressure from abroad.Para 1: Changing Role of WomenKnowledge? The campaigns for women’s suffrage could also be seen within the context of societies’ changing attitudes towards women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For example, in the words of Martin Pugh, ‘their participation in local government made women's exclusion from national elections increasingly untenable.’ Millicent Fawcett, a leader of the NUWSS, had argued that wider social changes were vital factors in the winning of the right to vote.?Some changes to family law.1857 – 1912. Acts passed which let womenGet access to children after divorce.Keep their own property after divorceClaim maintenance from ex-husbandsBe sole guardians of their children if hubby diedHave the right to separation if husband consistently cruel or in prison. Equal rights for men and women seeking divorce(1912)At work- 1874 Women’s Trade Union League. Campaign to improve health and safety conditions and pay at work for working class women. Major success in Match Girls’ Strike 1888In the family:Married Women’s Property Acts 1870 + 1882Keep their own property after divorceClaim maintenance from ex-husbands 1850s focus on domestic skills teaching for girls1848 Queens College London. first women’s college- training women teachers1860s Emily Davis campaigned for Latin, Greek, Maths, Science for girls too.1874 founder of Girton College, Cambridge University 1879 Oxford Uni, women’s college, Scottish Unis accept women equally with men.Political Improvements1881 10 women delegates at Trades Union Congress (TUC)- so voice for policy making and leadership in male dominated working class institution.1887 NUWSS - Suffragists 1903 WSPU - SuffragettesBUT little real progress made by 1900.Women’s suffrage was debated in the HoC 1867. 73 MPs voted in favour of amendment to Reform Bill1884. 135 MPs voted in favour of amendment to Reform BillBy 1890s many MPs supported the idea of women’s suffrage but few committed support for a Bill to enact it. AnalysisThe increase in middle class women entering professions led to greater education, awareness of rights and thus calls for political equality.This gave women new found confidence in their ability to contribute politically to society.?This enabled women to understand that they were being treated as inferiors in the first place, which prompted the growth of a movement for change.This made women realise that they could be trusted to act responsibly, especially in the home, and it followed naturally that this would translate into aspirations to contribute in the same way in wider society.Higher AnalysisBy 1914, significant legal rights were achieved. Marriage was still popular. Divorce easier. BUT, women were still expected to ‘suffer in silence’ in a bad relationship as her duty to the family, showing that the legal rights women had achieved were limited. (Limit)The changes in women’s lives are exaggerated at times and women entered WW1 still a far way from having ‘equality’, at any level. (limit)One limitation of this is that it was a slow moving factor- the fact that it took over a century from social change to transform to political change is evidence of this factor's limitation. It could be argued that the real success of this social change was that it started a movement, even if this movement wasn't particularly fast paced, that other developments such as the suffrage movements owe their birth to the new found confidence. (Link)EvaluationOverall, this factor is the most important reason for votes for women as it does something no other factor can claim to do by giving women, slowly but surely a confident starting point which acted as the basis of change across the country: education and the ability to see that they had the moral right on their side. Although political change was slow, the whole movement begins with social change and for that reason alone, social change is the most important reason for votes for women.Para 2: Pressure GroupsKnowledge with some analysis underlinedSuffragists (Peaceful tactics)The NUWSS believed in moderate, ‘peaceful’ tactics to win the vote such as meetings, pamphlets, petitions and parliamentary bills. Membership remained relatively low at about 6,000 until around 1909 but grew to 53,000 by 1914 as women angered by the Suffragettes’ campaign found a new home.Suffragettes (Militant tactics)Emmeline Pankhurst formed the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903. WSPU adopted the motto ‘Deeds Not Words’. The new strategy gained publicity with noisy heckling of politicians. Newspapers immediately took notice. The Suffragettes had achieved their first objective – publicity. Violent protest followed eg window smashing campaign and arson attacks aimed to provoke insurance company pressure on the Government. The prisons filled with Suffragettes. Women used starvation as a political weapon to embarrass the government. In response the government introduced the Prisoner's Temporary Discharge for Ill Health Act – the Cat and Mouse Act. The actions of the Suffragettes mobilised opinion for and against. It can be argued that were it not for the Suffragette campaign, the Liberal Government would not even have discussed women’s suffrage before World War One. But for opponents the militant campaign provided an excellent example of why women could not be trusted with the vote.AnalysisThe Suffrage Campaigns gave votes for women some much needed publicity, particularly in the press. The force-feeding of prisoners during the cat and mouse act created a wave of sympathy for the way the suffragettes were being treated.The Conciliation Bills which went through parliament were a direct response to the actions of the suffrage movements (although you could balance by making the point that they were defeated).Higher analysisIt could be argued that the fact the WSPU (Suffragettes) had to break away from the NUWSS is evidence that the Suffragists were limited in what they actually achieved. (limit)It could also be argued that the Suffragette campaign hindered votes for women as it gave weight to the argument that women could not be trusted with the vote. (limit)The pressure groups don’t take away from the argument that their changing role in society was still the most important factor in achieving votes for women as it could be argued that the educational benefits brought about by their changing role in society was what led to the formation of the suffrage movements in the first place (link)Evaluation Overall, the suffrage movements were very important in keeping votes for women very much in the political agenda, and so is a very important causal factor of votes for women. Even if the publicity was mixed, they put direct pressure on to government officials to deal with the lack of gender equality. However, the pressure groups would themselves not have existed had it not been for the changing role of women in society which gave them the confidence to do so, proving that, once again, it was their changing role in society that, more than any other factor including the work done by the suffragists and suffragettes, led to votes for women.Para 3: The WarBritain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914 and two days later the NUWSS suspended its political campaigning for the vote. Undoubtedly the sight of women ‘doing their bit’ for the war effort gained respect and balanced the negative publicity of the earlier Suffragette campaign. A WSPU pro- war propaganda campaign encouraged men to join the armed forces and women to demand ‘the right to serve’. Women’s war work was important to Britain’s eventual victory. Over 700,000 women were employed making munitions. The creation of a wartime coalition also opened the door to change. The traditional explanation for the granting of the vote to some women in 1918 has been that women's valuable work for the war effort radically changed male ideas about their role in society and that the vote in 1918 was almost a ‘thank you’ for their efforts. Another argument about the 1918 act is that it only happened because politicians grew anxious to enfranchise more men who had fought in the war but lost their residency qualification to vote and women could be ‘added on’ to legislation that was happening anyway. ?AnalysisThe war proved to previously sceptical politicians, such as Asquith, that women deserved the vote as a ‘thank you’ for their efforts. It meant that votes for women could no longer be ignored, given the efforts of women.It also proved that women could be relied upon, and were responsible citizens who could contribute to the national good. Higher analysisThe war acted more as a catalyst but the tide was flowing towards female franchise before it startedThere is an argument that the war actually delayed votes for women, as the Conciliation Bills, even if defeated, still had significant support on the eve of the war. The War put votes for women off the political agenda for 4 years, and suffrage might have been realised earlier had it not been for the War.But the women who were given the vote were ‘respectable’ ladies, 30 or over, not the younger women who worked long hours and risked their lives in munitions factories. The fact that some of those who contributed most during the war were NOT given the vote, limits the argument that votes for women was a ‘thank you’ for their efforts.Women had to wait until 1928 for real political equality, when they received votes on a par with men for the first time. Since this was almost a decade after the war had ended, it limits the argument that WW1 was the true cause of greater political equality.EvaluationOverall, WW1 was an important, but not pivotal, reason for votes for women. Its role was more to create a situation where it was impossible to ignore the issue of female suffrage. However, it is a less important reason than both the Suffrage campaigns and the changing role of women, as by the time of WW1, it was an issue that was becoming increasingly difficult for the government to ignore anyway. Moreover, women perhaps contributed more to the nation’s employment during WW1 precisely because their role had been changing over time, proving that it was still their changing role in society that, more than any other factor, caused voted for women.Para 4: Events abroad? Women were able to vote in other countries such as New Zealand, and in some American states.Russian revolution in 1917 started a culture of fear of revolution among the political classes.?AnalysisThis put pressure on Britain, who had a national self image of the leading democratic nation, to bring itself on a par with other nations.There is an argument that ‘votes for women’ was an attempt to appease the public, in order to stave off any possible revolutionary dissent against the government.?Higher analysisThis factor is limited because Britain, as a nation, had enough confidence in itself, particularly after a victory in the Great War to make its own decisions, regardless of what was happening elsewhere (limit).Revolution never really threatened in Britain, and those revolutionaries who did exist were more interested in class equality than gender equality, which shows that this argument is limited EvaluationWhile events abroad played a small role in putting added pressure to give women the vote for political reasons, it is still less important than their long term changing role in society as, without the pressure created by their long term changing role, the government would have easily been able to pass off events abroad as against British values. These events existed as, perhaps, the straw that broke the camels back, but the fact that events abroad relied upon pre-existing pressure such as their changing role in society is evidence that votes for women was a long term event, and that it was their changing role that was a much more important factor than events abroad. ConclusionIn conclusion, it is clear that votes there is a debate over the reasons for votes for women. On one hand, it can be seen as a natural end to their long term changing roles in other sections of society. On the other hand, the work done by pressure groups in the suffrage movement, as well as their role in World War 1, increased the pressure on the government to produce political equality. Overall, it is clear that votes for women was indeed a response to the long term change, more than any other factor, as the pressure groups themselves were born out of this new found status. It is more important than WW1 because, despite cementing the role of women in society, votes for women would have happen led regardless of war, something that couldn't be said for their long term changing role in society. ................
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