female enfranchisement Flashcards
(95 cards)
1
Q
- 1884 – Third Reform Act
A
59% of adult men enfranchised
2
Q
- 1894 - Local Government Act
A
married women became eligible for all the local government franchises already open to single women and widows, and the issue of coverture, at least in relation to the franchise laws, was effectively dead.
Unmarried women ratepayers received the right to vote in the Municipal Franchise Act 1869. This right was confirmed in the Local Government Act 1894 and extended to include some married women,[5][6][7] making over 729,000 women eligible to vote in local elections in England and Wales. By 1900, more than 1 million women were registered to vote in local government elections in England.
3
Q
National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies - founding
A
- 1897- merging 17 existing societies
4
Q
Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) founded and adopted militancy
A
- adopted militancy in 1905 following a liberal party meeting where 2 WSPU members were arrested for heckling
5
Q
liberals rejected female suffrage bill
A
1905
6
Q
First Conciliation Bill
A
- July 1910 –passes Second Reading, but the government blocks further progress.
7
Q
Second Conciliation Bill
A
- May 1911 –passes Second Reading, but the government blocks further progress.
defeated at second reading in 1912 March
8
Q
Franchise and Registration Bill
A
- July 1912 passed at Second Reading. Allowed for manhood suffrage and the possibility of amendment to enfranchise women.
- January 1913 – Franchise and Registration Bill withdrawn after the Speaker rules amendments inadmissible.
9
Q
‘Cat and Mouse Act’
A
- April 1913 allowed for the temporary release of hunger-striking suffragettes who were so weakened that they were at risk of death
reduced impact of militancy
10
Q
1918 representation of the people act
A
- Enfranchised women over the age of 30 as long as they already voted in local government elections or were married to men who did. (in total, about 40% of women).
- Enfranchised all men over the age of 21 (with the working-class now comprising about 70% of the electorate).
- Allowed women to stand for election to parliament.
11
Q
1928 representation of the people act
A
enfranchises women on the same basis as men (though the voting age was still 21 at this point).
12
Q
first women’s suffrage bill was drafted
A
1870 - drawn up by Richard Pankhurst - introduced by Radical-Liberals - loose grouping within the Liberal Party - drew especially on the ideas of John Stuart Mill
13
Q
increasing role of women in civil society
A
- Paid taxes.
- Owned property.
- Were affected by national legislation (e.g. divorce laws).
- Were seen as capable of power (Queen Victoria was female, although she was actually opposed to female enfranchisement).
14
Q
increasing role of women in politics
A
- Had roles in local government (e.g. members of school boards).
- The local government franchise, which since 1869 had included all women aged 21 or above who held property on which they were liable to pay local taxes (“rates”)—mainly unmarried or widowed women.
- Active in politics (e.g. anti-slavery movement).
15
Q
Prior to 1900 - common beliefs in women and their vote
A
- The older arguments against women having the vote had been defeated (e.g. women not wanting the vote / women’s interests being the same as men’s).
- Some qualifications – what female enfranchisement was not about:
- It was not argued that men and women were the same–just that their differences made it valuable for both groups to be enfranchised (i.e. the argument was one of gender difference, not of equal rights).
- Almost nobody at this stage was calling for women to be MPs.
- Advocates of female enfranchisement were not concerned with the liberation of women more generally.
16
Q
international recognition of female vote
A
Were seen as capable of voting–had the vote in some US states from 1860s,and in New Zealand from 1893
17
Q
1884 refrom act against female enfranchisement
A
the male franchise had been enlarged in 1884, increasing “the educated woman’s resentment at her political subordination, whilst at the same time downgrading the priority of further electoral reform on the political agenda” (Harrison).
18
Q
Liberal failure to bring vote pre 1900
A
- with the return of the Liberal Party to power in 1880 came the expectation of a further Reform Bill to extend the franchise to those men, mostly agricultural workers, as well and miners in colliery villages. These years also saw suffragists beginning to try to build a more popular following.
- More moderate counsels prevailed however and the women’s suffrage amendment to the Reform Act of 1884 was again a compromise formulated in terms of sexual equality - but the opposition of liberal Prime Minister, Gladstone, ensured its defeat
19
Q
Conservative failure to introduce female vote
A
- Every Conservative leader from Disraeli onwards expressed some sympathy for women’s suffrage, but, as Pugh has noted, ‘the value of their support was somewhat diminished by their reluctance to take up the question while actually in office’
20
Q
how feminism advancements harmed female vote pre 1900
A
- Anti-suffragists claimed that women had no need for the vote, since great advances in the feminist cause had already made significant advances, e.g. reforms to property / divorce / guardianship law. Harrison even argues “it is difficult to think of any feminist reform that was at all widely demanded which was not eventually conceded between 1866 and 1906”.
21
Q
How political motivations of each party harmed female vote
A
- Not all men had the vote by this stage (only about 6/10) – there remained the question of whether women should be enfranchised only to the same extent as men (with restrictions such as property requirements), or whether universal suffrage should be introduced.
- Liberals were concerned about any new franchise being restricted by property qualifications, as those with property tended to be wealthier / more conservative. o Conservatives were concerned about universal suffrage – young, unmarried women tended to be more politically radical
22
Q
Surpising dichotomy in Libera/ Conservative support for female vote
A
- The Conservatives ended up being the unexpected allies of female enfranchisement (e.g. Balfour supported it), and the Liberals ended up being the unexpected enemy – female enfranchisement was one issue which surprisingly was opposed by those with a New Liberal agenda (e.g. Asquith opposed it, and the Liberals rejected suffrage as a policy option in 1905).
23
Q
continued desire for female economic dependency in period
A
Deirdre Beddoe has commented, ‘Public opinion was against married women working in hard times and there was much hostility to married women teachers and their husbands enjoying a double income.
- Little Mother’s Sad Childhood, issued in 1923, painted a lurid picture of the perils of families where mothers were bread-winners and fathers were unemployed. The message was that work must be found for father. Leaflets issued during 1931 and 1935 claimed that above all women wanted security at home. In short, women’s rights at work were not a priority in the inter war years.
- It was not until 1991 that separate taxation for husband and wife was implemented even though Women teachers managed to win for themselves about five-sixths of men’s pay during the inter-war years
24
Q
effect of 1918 reform of the people’s act on suffrage movements
A
- Fawcett described how, immediately the extension of the franchise was decided, the council of NUWSS decided to extend its aims. The council retained the old single objective, “to obtain the parliamentary franchise for women on the same terms as it is or may be granted to men,” but added two more: “to obtain all other such reforms, economic, legislative and social, as are necessary to secure a real equality of liberties, status and opportunities between men and women,” and “to assist women to realize their responsibility as voters.”
25
continued limitation to female independence- economic/ educational - post war
* 1921 census said fewer women were ‘gainfully employed’ than in 1911 and in 1927 Oxford limited the number of students allowed to attend female colleges
26
female agitation post WW1
* Female agitation for the vote never regained its pre-WW1 status- “by the end of the 1920s, feminism as a distinct political and social movement no longer existed”.
27
war effect on nature of feminism- soldiers
* Pre-war feminism was attack on separate-spheres ideology, wanted ‘natural equality’. Post-war, wanted a separate, special sphere for women- relationship between the sexes as one of complementarity’. More akin to pre-war anti-suffragists
* Catherine Hartley said that the emphasis of sexual difference stemmed from the male aggression that resulted from WW1- “we women were brough back to the primitive conception of the relative position of the two sexes” she also said she was glad for this biological distinction as it differentiated them from men. She alongside Christabel Pankhurst believed that brutality of men at war taught us about ‘nature of masculinity’, however this led to the assertion of the ‘drive-discharge’- biological rather than societal drives to determine male behaviour.
* Emmeline Pethwick-Lawrence said that she heard from a soldier on leave that many soldiers believed “that many men at the front felt that women had left them to their fate- but he put it more strongly than that.” He said that these soldiers felt more hatred for those at home than they did for the enemy.
28
economically little changed for women post war
* Women who were employed were vilified by the press- they prevented men from working and Philip Gibbs said women were refusing to give up their jobs.
* In April 1919, the Leeds Mercury complained that female workers duty during the war is “seriously blemished by their habitual and aggressive incivility, and a callous disregard for the welfare of passengers” and warned it will make their work during the war associated with negative thoughts
* In March 1921, the Daily news said that ‘the attitude of the public towards women is more full of contempt and bitterness than has been the case since the suffragette outbreaks’
* Women largely accepted discrimination in pay and the practice of awarding higher increases to men during the war.
29
Pugh on success of women post war
* Pugh- A wider and more independent personal life often appeared to be the chief aim of the war years - middle class were apt to regard the emancipation of their sex as an accomplished fact by the inter-war period.
30
Pre- enfranchisement Tory party attitude to women
* Before suffrage, Conservatives saw women’s influence as largely irrelevant, telling canvassers in 1912: “Don’t be satisfied with seeing the wife. She may talk, but remember the husband is the voter. See him”.
31
Masculinity of Tory leaders
* Masculinity was very prominent in Conservative idealizations of leadership: Party literature of Baldwin as St George fighting the dragon of unemployment, and as a figure of rocklike strength combined with reassuring male authority versus Labour leaders, and particularly Ramsay MacDonald, as a female figure—unattractive, shameless and with a difficult brood of children.
32
Masculintiy of women in Tory party
* Conservative women were wary of feminist strategies and reluctant to be thought of as feminists. Typically, they sought the removal of barriers to their participation rather than guarantees that they would be included.
33
Tories on equal pay
* Conservative party kept shifting its stance on equal pay- a 1918 leaflet stated: ‘We must fit ourselves to live in a new world … Special attention should be paid by the Association to the interests of women in industry and home life, and to national health and work.’ This leaflet, Why Women should Join the Women's Branch of the National Unionist Association, appeared in many editions in the inter-war period, but only in its first manifestation did it advocate equal pay.
34
Tory party and canvassing to women
* 1929, Conservatives only viewed women as mothers with a section in their manifesto- ‘welfare of mothers and children’, didn’t make an appeal to young and childless women
35
difficulty in being a female MP
* To be a female MP: women had to name an MP and a constituency association chair, and to be credible to them as a potential national politician. For a young woman to be in this position she must have broken out of her gender stereotype early enough to gain several years of political experience
36
Conservative's direct role in extending the franchise
* Baldwin passed the Equal franchise Act in May 1928 – “Women will have, with us, the fullest rights. The grounds for the old agitation is gone, and gone forever.”. Women became 53% of the electorate.
37
female trade union membership
women employees were less likely than men to be unionized. The membership rate among female ‘wage-earners’ hardly is likely to have increased from the 20 per cent it attained in 1920, when it was only two-fifths the rate for males. Thus young; single, working-class women did not have the same institutional reinforcement not to swerve from loyalty to Labour that their male counterparts did.
* 1.2 million women had joined trade unions by 1918 compared to 5.3 million men.
38
Labour as pro suffrage
* The only universally pro-suffrage party.
* In 1912, decides no suffrage bill will be acceptable to Labour unless it includes women.
39
weekly journal Time and Tide
1920 Lady Rhondda
* produced wholly by women and gave broad coverage to political and cultural issues most of them not directly concerned with gender equality, to promote equality both by demonstrating the capacities of women and by informing and educating newly enfranchised women.
* It also gave prominence to the issues of central importance to feminists until women obtained the vote on equal terms with men in 1928.
40
shift in weekly journal Time and Tide
* Post 1928 (full franchise) : shifted the emphasis to w hat she defined as "the real task of feminism," to "wipe out the overemphasis on sex that is the fruit of the age-long subjection of women. The individual must stand out without trappings as a human being." In the 1930s the journal employed and published a balance of men and women and became one of Britain's most influential reviews of politics, the arts, and social questions
41
New feminism
Rathbone, on the other hand, is represented as a leader of welfare oriented "new" feminism. This recognized that women and men had some different needs and that, at least in the short run, women needed support in their roles as mothers.
42
post war Split in feminism
1927
* New feminists in the National union, opposing ‘equalitarians’ eg Elizabeth Abbott, Lady Rhondda and vera Britain who joined new organisations such as the Open-Door Council and the six Point Group who carried on a campaign for sex equality.
* Feminists demanded change based on ‘women’s special needs’ so like that of anti-feminists. Eg Mary Stocks wanted family allowances or endowment of motherhood, but said it was a feminist issue because it was ‘the conscious allocation to the mothers qua mothers of resources adequate for the proper performance of their function’. She said that this was more important than equal pay or equal opportunities.
43
wartime split in feminism
* Mrs Fawcett quickly asserted the pro-war stance of the National Union, her organisation contained too many opponents of the war for unity to prevail for long.
44
Labour's organisation of women in the party
* The Labour Party constitution of 1918 provided a structure for the organization of women within the party
A permanent chief woman officer was appointed to preside over a network of women's sections of the party branches. She was assisted by regional women's sections officers. Women had four reserved places on the powerful national executive committee of the party, which was elected by the annual conference
45
facade of female involvement in Labour party?
. Delegates of the women's sections met at an annual women's conference, but there was no obligation upon the annual party conference or the national executive committee to take account of their decisions. Women often felt that they had the appearance rather than the substance of power within the Labour Party
46
feature of women in Labour manifestos
* 1922- Conservatives had nothing about women in manifesto, Labour had one line – “Our policy is to remove all existing disabilities affecting women as citizens, voters, and workers”.
* 1924 section in manifesto labelled “a word to women”.
* 1929 manifesto made appeal to all women, advocating for equal citizenship.
47
Labour female party membership
By 1927 about 300,000 women were members. This was about half the individual membership of the party and in some constituencies the female proportion was higher still.
48
Women members in Tory party
* There were over 1 million female members of the Conservative Party by 1929
49
role of women in Tory canvassing
* By the early 1920s the reliance of Conservative constituency associations on their female members had become a truism within the party. Almost all agents, MPs and candidates acknowledged that women were outdoing men in terms of canvassing, propaganda work and fundraising. Glasgow Conservatives praised the work of women as being “the difference between victory and defeat” in the 1918 election
50
desire in Tory party for seperation of the sexes
Many constituency activists feared that women's 'civilizing influence' would dilute the healthy conflict they believed to be the stuff of politics. In 1920, for example, Glasgow Conservatives' annual report claimed: 'during a time marked by increasing unrest and instability, when nothing seems fixed or sacred, a strong and virile membership . . . should surely be the aim.'
51
tension between female and male Tory parties
Lawrence identifies a growing tension in the Edwardian period between the clubs' celebration of a predominantly masculine popular culture centred on 'the pub, the racecourse and the football terrace' and the 'home and hearth' Toryism of the Primrose League. Women's higher political profile after the war exacerbated this tension. Long standing male members recognized that women would not take kindly to the 'three Bs' of existing clubs—billiards, bar and bridge
52
limits to desires for female involvement in Tory party
most hoped that women would set up their own clubs rather than insist on joining existing ones In 1922, the secretary of the Conservative Clubs Association ridiculed the idea of mixed clubs… In practice many agents favoured allowing women into the clubs,]
53
female forced to form women only clubs
The National Society of Conservative and Unionist Agents was the focus of considerable controversy throughout the inter war period concerning the admission of women agents and 'women's organizers' as members. Failure to resolve the issue satisfactorily led to the creation in 1927 of the rival National Association of Conservative and Unionist Women's Organisers, and relations between the two bodies remained frosty well into the 1930s…. At the 1922 party conference dinner women were reportedly consigned to their own table 'as though they all had the measles
54
bentley on female vote before 1900
maj in parliament were for women’s enfranchisement by 1900
55
male enfranchisement as a reason against female enfranchisement
- Under 3rd reform act – gave men 21+ vote if had own property or paid sufficient rent. Excluded 4-4.5 mill men. If women were to be given the vote, those men would have to get the vote too. If there were to be mass enfranchisement then the vote cease to be a trust and become a right. Opponents thus declared that it should remain not a right but by a thinking electorate, a reading electorate with a high interest in politics. They may have supported women over age of 30
56
effect of enfranchisement on election
- Evidence that electorate were thinking . When elections were properly contested, turnout was very high + newspapers were full of politics- only with mass electorate in 1918 that popular press emerged with lots of sport, pictures etc. – whole nature of election transformed by nature of electorate.
1918- 57.2 % turnout
thereafter didn't drop below 70% until 2001
57
why females became accepted in political participation
1883 Corrupt Practices Act. This prohibited parliamentary candidates from directly purchasing the services of canvassers (and sometimes voters) to secure their victories. The work of volunteers was needed to replace those activities; the Primrose League (female) was able to fill the gap.
58
membership of Women's Unionist and Tariff Reform Association
In 1906 the Women's Liberal Unionists amalgamated with the Women's Association of the Tariff Reform League to become the Women's Unionist and Tariff Reform Association.
* Membership of Women's Unionist Associations' branches appears to have numbered in the thousands: Truro Helston had 4,000 members in 1907. In November 1910 there were 30,000 women members in the west of Scotland.
59
1924 tory manifesto and women
* In 1924 the Conservative party included in its manifesto a section headed ‘Women and Children’ .Among other things this paragraph echoed the Liberal proposal of 1923 that ‘equal rights should be ensured to women in the guardian- ship of children’ and included the vague proposal that t ‘the penalties for criminal assaults against women and children made adequate to the offence’. Surprisingly for the time, it also proclaimed that ‘the number of women police should be increased’.
60
Labour v Conservative MPs - likelihood of election
* Women who stood for Labour rarely managed to get elected, while women standing for the Conservatives fared much better. Even in 1929 when the electorate swung strongly from the Conservatives to Labour, a female Conservative candidate was as likely to be elected as was a female Labour candidate
61
Home and Politics magazine
.1923-30 Tory publication
1929- circulation of 200k, outselling ‘man on the street’
* Home and politics began depicting Mrs Maggs, a middle aged woman and her colleague, Betty the maid – “Autumn cleaning, like industrial relations, becomes easier when people co-operate; hanging out clothes during changeable weather is as risky as voting Liberal; free trade means allowing strangers to steal flowers from your garden."
* “Mrs Maggs represents the quintessential Conservative woman — a bastion of common sense and homely wisdom fit to reassure the most reluctant suffragist. Betty, on the other hand, combines the dangers of immature femininity with an encouraging inherent sense of propriety and natural justice.”- Conservative duty was to save Betty.
Marriage in Russia, for example, had allegedly become 'easier than the purchase of a broadcasting licence' as confirmed by the 'Scenes from a Russian divorce court' regularly portrayed by Home and Politics.""
* A clear sense of women as mothers, wives and in the home remained.
62
The Women of Today and Tomorrow
1929 - one off Tory election magazine
63
Conservative literature and theatre portrayal of women
* Conservatives also presented the strike as threat to the family and the wife as an influence on her husband’s return to work- “This is of course the role played by Mary Gunter in The Roly-poly Revolution, and by Ella Watson in the 1927 'Play for Patriots', Quiet, when she bolsters her husband's determination to defy his communist union leaders and return to work”. The strike threatened the family financially and physically
64
WW1 and vote directly
* It was agreed that it was unacceptable for millions of soldiers not to have the vote upon their return from war. Given this, it did not make sense to enfranchise working-class men but not working women.
* During the war the opportunity for enfranchisement of women was created by the concern of the politicians to give votes to men - war took many men away from their normal residencies to the armed forces or new job - disrupted 12-month residence requirement for majority of electorate. - governments faced prospect of massive disfranchisement of existing male voters - felt they were obliged to find ways of changing the registration system to bring male voters back onto the list.
65
WW1 effect on female involvement in civil society
* Gave women new roles in society:
o They became involved in industry and started to ‘behave’ just like men – e.g. joined trade unions, went on strike, and demanded higher wages.
o In the absence of their husbands during the war, women ran the family budget and earned money. When their husbands returned (if they did), this continued in many families.
o Fawcett at 1925 National union of women’s suffrage, attributed the female vote to the role of women in WW2 + Churchill said ‘without the work of women it would have been impossible to win the war’ and Asquith who previously opposed female vote said he now believed in it as a result of female contribution to the war.
* Although prior to WW1 Most of the working-class women were already involved in employment outside the home. But Wartime offered women a wider range of jobs thereby enabling some to abandon low-paid or unattractive work
66
WW1 altering public opinion
* Pugh- people had changed their minds in the sense that male prejudice against women had melted in the face of revelations about their capabilities during wartime and their contribution to the war effort. - even at its height the shift in attitudes towards women was a fragile phenomenon. Traditional prejudice continued to prevail.
67
Shift of politics in WW1- effect on female vote
* The war led to Asquith being replaced by Lloyd George–despite the burning down of his house by militant suffragettes, he is largely a supporter of female enfranchisement.
68
comparative size of moderate versus militant suffrage movements
* Moderate movements had membership about 10 times that of militants–NUWSS branches rose from 17 when it was founded in 1897, to 33 in 1907, to 70 in 1910, to 478 in 1914.
the non-militants remained organizationally, numerically, and educationally superior throughout the period (1906-1914 when the militants were most prominent) and maintained their growth.
69
moderate suffrage movement
NUWSS, led by Fawcett
70
how practice of non-militant suffragists was successful
* Built political alliances with the Liberals and with the Labour Party–their pressure might have been more effective than militants’.
* More fitting of the interwar period - The quieter public engagement of women activists in the 1920s compared with the drama of the pre-war campaign of the suffragettes is commonly interpreted as a change specific to women's politics, yet, as Jon Lawrence argues persuasively, this preference for sobriety was a general feature of British politics at this time in which women shared. Contemporaries commented, with surprise, that there were so few "scenes" in post-war elections.
71
militant suffragists
WSPU, led by Pankhurst and her 3 daughters
72
tactics of WSPU
o ‘Rushing’ / heckling the House of Commons.
o Court case where Pankhurst cross-examined Lloyd George.
o Window breaking, stone throwing, and other criminal damage.
o Hunger strikes due to not being recognised as ‘political prisoners’ – led to forcible feeding before 1913, and early release from prison under the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’ from 1913 (which enabled the suffragettes quickly to return to the ‘fighting line’).
o Destruction of mail.
o Arson campaigns (e.g. the burning of the Tea House at Kew Gardens).
o Bombing of Lloyd George’s house when he was Chancellor in 1913 (even though he supported female suffrage, they believed he was not doing enough to advance their cause within the Liberal Party).
73
beginning of military suffragists
* WSPU attracted national attention in October 1905 - after a Liberal Party rally - determined to draw public attention to their cause by seeking arrest. This occasion is generally taken as marking the beginning of suffrage 'militancy', a departure that entailed both a new mode of suffrage campaigning and a new set of political policies. At its beginning, militancy drew on established practices of civil disobedience and passive resistance, forms of protest long adopted by dissenting religious groups against the payments of tithes and church rates. These included tax resistance and non-co-operation with the police and prison authorities
74
justifications for increasing and continued militancy
* Asquith's dismissive response to the suffragists' huge Hyde Park demonstration in 1908 caused militancy to be resumed that year.
* from 1906 to 1916, suffragettes saw male obstinacy, partisan loyalty, and even trickery, as driving suffragists into accelerating militancy, which is all the more justifiable because women lack the male's constitutional outlets.
75
Militants involvement in politics
In the general election of 1906 the militant policy was pursued in part by offering support for pro-suffrage Labour candidates such as Keir Hardie,
76
women's freedom league
from 1907 to 1961 which campaigned for women's suffrage, pacifism and sexual equality
founded by former members of the Women's Social and Political Union after the Pankhursts decided to rule without democratic support from their members.
77
WFL poltical role
* The WFL, while formally non-party in its affiliations, remained close to the Independent Labour Party, and in general preferred methods such as tax-resistance, sometimes referred to as 'constitutional militancy' in preference to the increasing violence attaching to WSPU demonstrations from the latter part of 1908 onwards. WFL also encouraged the organization of male support in separate societies such as the Men's Franchise League, in which both militant and constitutionalist sympathizers were found.
78
end of WSPU
o WSPU branches had so declined in importance by 1913 that they “did not think their membership worth advertising”. Their activities largely ceased when WW1 started, and they disbanded in 1917.
Despite the WSPU formally disbanding in 1917 (having ceased to be significant since the start of WW1 anyway), Christabel Pankhurst claims that it was politicians’ fear of resumed militancy which really won women the vote.
79
Bentley on failure of militancy
A parliamentary majority for women's suffrage was being built up after 1897 which the militants subsequently helped to destroy, and a powerful intellectual case was being prepared which Edwardian anti-suffragists had difficulty in refuting, and from which a suffragette militancy later provided a welcome distraction.
80
blame on militancy for failure of early enfranchisement
o Very unpopular with parliamentarians (i.e. the people who needed convincing), and increasingly alienated as many as it drew in. E.g. when the Third Conciliation Bill was defeated in 1912, MPs blamed its defeat partly on militancy; and the death of Emily Davison (an educated woman), having thrown herself under the King’s horse at Ascot in 1913, made politicians question just how irresponsible uneducated women would be if they had the vote
81
nature of women in militant movements
o Most of the women involved were themselves middle-class – it was not a broad movement, and many even opposed the enfranchisement of working-class men / women. This probably suggest why, even if militancy was partly responsible for the 1918 Act, it stopped after that point, and had nothing to do with the 1928 Act which enfranchised all women.
82
Militants not being concerned with vote
o Holton- Many militants were in any case disenchanted with parliamentary politics - they began to feel that the vote was a quite inadequate tool for the task of women's emancipation, which they saw increasingly in terms of the sexual and economic freedom of women.
83
view of legacy of WSPU
Harrison scathingly concludes that the WSPU’s most-lasting impact was to “create a romance out of its own history”.
84
1918 reorganisation of constituencies- benefit for Tories
* By 1918, the average English constituency had far more electors than those in Wales / Scotland, and twice as many as the average Irish seat. The division of large residential constituencies (e.g. in London / Middlesex / Surrey / Warwickshire / Lancashire) produced additional Conservative seats – e.g. the constituency of Wandsworth was divided into 4 separate seats, each returning a Conservative.
* Despite the reorganisation aiming to equalise the size of constituencies, the Conservatives managed to ensure the continued existence of the university seats, which were safe seats for them.
85
reorganisation of constituencies 1918- limited effect on Tory success
* Conservative gains were offset by many small Conservative boroughs being merged into the surrounding county constituencies (e.g. Salisbury / Winchester / Windsor / Taunton).
* Overall, Kinnear estimates that the “net effect of the redistribution alone was a gain of 34 seats for the Conservative Party” – this was certainly significant, but not sufficient to explain their continued dominance
86
women's proportion of electorate in 1918 and 1928
* Women constituted 40% of electorate in 1918 (still limited by age and property qualifications); and 52% of electorate after universal suffrage introduced in 1928
87
first female MP
* First female MP elected in 1918 – Constance Markievicz (though, as a member of Sinn Fein, she did not take her seat).
88
female enfranchisement - Conservative win
* Women did not just vote the way their husbands did, with surveys suggesting they formed their political views independently:
* Ball: the groups of women enfranchised in 1918 leaned slightly towards the Conservatives, partly because of the age limitation imposed (over 30), and partly because the Conservative Party was “more effective than its rivals in shaping and presenting an image that appealed to the housewife and mother” – they supported social harmony, not dislocation.
* Studies have shown that, without female enfranchisement, Labour would have been in office continually from 1945 until 1979
89
first woman to take seat in the Commons
a Conservative, Nancy Astor – she actively championed women’s causes, whereas Labour Party women tended to identify more with their party than with their sex, thus making no special effort to attract more women to the cause.- 1919
90
female enfranchisment - increasing support for Labour
* There is considerable biographical evidence that women as often led as followed the politics of their partner, or that couples were drawn together by a shared political preference. The 1993 annual British Household Survey (of a nationally representative sample of British households) found that Labour-supporting women were more effective in persuading their families to follow their voting preferences than were Labour-supporting men.
91
female enfranchisement - party neutral
* But we should be careful not to overstate the existence of a female voting ‘bloc’ – though a majority of women often voted for the Conservatives (e.g. 55% of women in 1955), more voted for Labour in the 1945 and 1966 elections.
92
female enfranchisment minimal effect on policy initially
* Divorce laws.
* Maternity / child welfare / birth control legislation.
* Equal pay legislation.
the entirely male parliament did introduce versions of such legislation before 1918 due to lobbying, so there is not definitely a big change caused by female suffrage. Harrison even argues “it is difficult to think of any feminist reform that was at all widely demanded which was not eventually conceded between 1866 and 1906”.
93
encouragement of use of female vote
* Once women had the vote, they believed, it was important that they use it. In 1917 the National Union of Women Workers and the National Council of Women decided to form a network of Women's Citizens Associations (WCAs) throughout the country to provide this training. The first of these had been formed by Eleanor Rathbone in Liverpool in 1913. Membership was open to all women at age sixteen, so that political education could begin early in life.
* NUWSS published pamphlets guiding women through the complexity of getting themselves onto the voting register and of using the vote
94
NUWSS - physical change
* NUWSS changed its name to the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship (NUSEC), and in 1924 it merged with the WCAs.
95
pre war work of women
43% of all workers were women- most were part time and few were unionised
