Ryan Docherty 5D2

To what extent was the women’s war efforts the most influential factor
in women gaining the vote in 1918?
In 1850’s women were seen as physically and mentally inferior compared to men, they seemed very

far away from gaining the right to vote. Come June 1918 however, The Representation of the Peo-

ple Act was introduced which gave women over 30 who were householders the vote. There were a

number of reasons why women were given the vote in 1918 such as women war efforts, changing

attitudes towards women, the Suffragists and the Suffragettes. Despite these factors the women’s

war efforts were the main reason for women obtaining voting rights in 1918 as it showed that

women could take control of situations, do mens jobs and support the country.

When Britain declared war on Germany the WSPU ceased their campaign and urged women to help

out for the war effort. Women worked as conductors on trams and buses, typists and secretaries and

just under 200,000 women found work in government departments. Over 700,000 women were em-

ployed in the previously male-dominated engineering industry making munitions. Women’s valu-

able work towards the war effort drastically changed male ideas about females roles in society and

that the granting of the vote was seen as a thank you for the valiant effort that women had made to

fill the jobs that had previously only been worked by men. The women's land army was an impor-

tant reason why women were granted the vote in 1918 and a contributing factor as to why women

war effort was the leading cause of this. Many upper class women took to the fields to work the

land and this showed men that women were strong and able to do the messy and hard jobs as well as

working in factories and transport. Therefore the women war efforts was crucial towards women

obtaining the right to vote as they helped supply the army with bullets and weapons and helped to

run the country as smoothly as possible while most men were away fighting for the country. An ar-

gument that could be made however is that the vote given was unfair as many of the munitions

workers that risked their lives in the factories were mostly single and in their late teens or early 20’s

and the vote was only given too women who were 30 or over and who were property owners or

married to property owners.

could do to contribute to society, especially the unmarried & lower class women but times were

changing. They were considered as second-class citizens who were physically, mentally and

morally inferior to men and therefore incapable of voting. Women were very limited in the profes-

sions they could do, a lot of men thought that woman should focus on doing good deeds such as

charitable, religious and education work and also to focus on bearing the children, not being dis-

tracted by jobs. Another big problem women faced was that when they married all their possessions

including any money the women had earned was now owned by the man. Women also had no legal

rights over their children at all. It was not until 1873 when things started to get better for women

when many acts were introduced. The Infant Custody Act was introduced in 1873, this act gave

mothers increased rights over their children, even to the extent of allowing some mothers custody of

their child after conviction for adultery. Another act that was introduced was The Married Women’s

Property Acts of 1882 and 1893 granted women full legal control of all property they had owned at

marriage by their own earnings or through inheritance. A third act that was introduced was the Lo-

cal Government Act of 1894, which granted women ratepayers and property occupiers the right to

vote in local elections and also the opportunity to stand for election. Therefore, social changes were

crucial to women being granted the vote as mens attitudes towards women were changing, as was

society. However, after the war it was still seen that women should stay at home because when men

returned from war took back the jobs which women were working during the war. Although chang-

ing attitudes were a big contribution to why women obtained the vote in 1918, the most important

reason was because of the woman’s war effort as it made the government realise that women de-

served the right to vote as they found out women were not as inferior to men as initially thought.
The NUWSS, also known as the Suffragists were a pressure group formed in 1869 that pushed for

women’s voting rights. They were led by a woman called Millicent Fawcett. The group of middle

class women believed in moderate, peaceful tactics to win the vote, mainly for middle-class prop-

erty-owning women which led to the group being seen as more exclusive. Millicent Fawcett quoted

in 1916 ”Let us show ourselves worthy of citizenship whether our claim to do it be recognised or

not”. The tactics they used would be things such as petitions, silent protests and public speeches.

The suffragists had many strengths such as always working within the law, gaining support of many

trade unions and increasing working conditions of female cotton workers. A lot of people also

agreed with the peaceful approach of the group which leaped bring new members to the group. The

group went from 6,000 members in 1909 to 53,000 across 480 branches by 1914, so their cause was

becoming very hard to ignore. The suffragists were starting to become quite successful, in the 1911

Conciliation Bill 255 MP’s thought women deserved the right to vote. Therefore, the suffragist

campaign was important to women gaining the vote as they had gained the support of politicians.

However, the suffragists were quite often criticised by some people as their sensible and peaceful

techniques were not making as much progress as they would have liked too. Despite this, woman’s

war efforts was still more important in women gaining the vote in 1914 as it was seen that women

could actually do the jobs that it was thought only men could do, proving they were more mature

than they initially seemed to be.

The WSPU, also known as the Suffragettes were another pressure group that pushed for the same

thing as the NUWSS, however the tactics they used were very, very different. Ray Strachey who

was a feminist and politician during the time women were trying to achieve the vote said in 1928

“Patience and trust were abandoned, and indignation and bitterness took their place; the old ways

led no where, the old friends did nothing, and it was time for a fresh enterprise.” The group was

founded by a woman named Emmeline Pankhurst and her two daughters. Emmeline was previously

a member of the NUWSS until 1903, she left as she was frustrated by the lack of progress the
NUWSS had achieved. The group gained publicity in 1905 when Sir Edward Grey who was a min-

ister in the government was heckled noisily by two WSPU members who were then arrested after a

struggle involving kicking and spitting, the women were sent to prison and the nation reacted in

shock that women were now prepared to use violence in an attempt to win the vote. Newspapers

took notice immediately and the Suffragettes had achieved its first objective which was publicity.

After the Prime Minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman died and was replaced by Asquith who was

strongly against the groups campaigns. Violent protest then kicked off with a window-smashing

campaign towards government buildings causing prisons to fill with Suffragettes. They also poured

acid into pillar boxes to destroy letters and set cricket pavilions, racecourse stands and golf club-

houses on fire also. The women imprisoned then went on hunger strikes to try and embarrass the

government if a Suffragette died in custody. They then were starting to be force fed in prison which

was seen as torture as a women died because of it, news of attempts to feed two women through the

rectum were leaked out and this caused a storm of protests. Therefore, the suffragette campaign was

important as they gained a lot of publicity because of how often they were in the headlines of the

newspapers. However, the use of militant tactics used by the suffragettes lost them supporters as

some people thought they were taking things too far and turned to supporting the suffragists. Al-

though the suffragettes were a huge influence towards women obtaining the vote, woman’s war ef-

forts was still more important in women gaining the vote in 1914 as it was seen that women could

actually do the jobs that it was thought only men could do, proving they were more mature than

they initially seemed to be.

In conclusion, although the changing attitudes towards women, the suffragist campaign and the suf-

fragette campaign all played a significant part in women obtaining the vote in 1918, the women war

efforts is the most important factor. Changing attitudes was important as mens attitudes towards
women had changed. The suffragist campaign was important because they gained the support of

politicians. The suffragette campaign was important because they gained a lot of publicity for their

cause. However, women war efforts is the most important as it was shown that women could work

jobs that people thought only men could do and the government may have felt they needed to thank

women for all their help during the war.