Women Essay

Question 1

Intro

Answer 1

During 1800s women had little political say in Britain

Legally, classed as inferior to men, had few rights over property & men could legally imprison wives

Began to campaign for vote, many argued this would be a disaster as women viewed as too emotional to vote sensibly

Even Queen Victoria described issue of female suffrage as ‘a mad, wicked folly’

Question 2

Changing Attitudes - Knowledge

Answer 2

Women’s legal position improved
- 1882 Married Women’s Property Act gave women rights over property

More opportunities in education
- 1879 women’s colleges founded at Oxford Uni

More career opportunities
- By 1900 women practicing as teachers, lawyers & social workers

Question 3

Changing Attitudes - Analysis For

Answer 3

Women able to prove themselves as capable as men

Question 4

Changing Attitudes - Analysis Against

Answer 4

Position of women gradually improving throughout 1800s, not enough to convince politicians, more radical campaign required

Question 5

Changing Attitudes - Evaluation

Answer 5

Clear society was progressing & with this came positive changes in how women were viewed, undoubtedly this had an impact on politicians when considering female suffrage

WW1 more important as AJP Taylor argues ‘war soothed the way for democracy’ showing how important this event was, acting as a catalyst for equal suffrage for men & women

Question 6

WW1 - Knowledge

Answer 6

Women worked in highly dangerous munition factories making bombs
- Over 700,000 working here, worked with harmful chemicals & became infertile

Women ensured there was enough food for their country by carrying out laborious work as part of the Land Army

Some women risked their lives by working as nurses on the front line

Question 7

WW1 - Analysis For

Answer 7

Hard work during war gained them a lot of respect from men & MPs, vote regarded as a thank you to women for doing their bit

Question 8

WW1 - Analysis Against

Answer 8

Only women over 30 who owned property able to vote, didn’t apply to many women who put in so much hard work throughout the war meaning they had been disregarded which limits this argument

Question 9

WW1 - Evaluation

Answer 9

Men also rewarded vote as a thank you for fighting, meant it was impossible for rich, educated women to be unable to vote whilst men could

Gifford Lewis, a historian, supports the view that was was “the greatest factor in granting of the vote to women”

Question 10

Suffragists - Knowledge

Answer 10

Used peaceful tactics such as lobbying MPs to get them to pass parliamentary bills, holding meetings & leading peaceful demonstrations

Most notable demonstration took place on February 9th 1907
- Over 3,000 women marched from Hyde Park to the Strand

Question 11

Suffragists - Analysis For

Answer 11

Successful in getting many MPs to support their cause & throughout 1910-1912 parliament heard bills for & against limited women’s suffrage

Question 12

Suffragists - Analysis Against

Answer 12

Peaceful tactics never made news headlines making it easy for men & MPs to simply ignore the campaigns

Question 13

Suffragists - Evaluation

Answer 13

Worked with New Labour Party to campaign for ‘Votes for All’ which put pressure on Liberals to act or lose working class support

WW1 more important seen in change of view from Herbert Asquith who was against women getting the vote before the war but soon recognised war couldn’t have been won without them

Question 14

Suffragettes - Knowledge

Answer 14

The suffragettes passed the ‘Temporary Discharge for Ill Health Act’ in 1913
- Meant women were allowed to be released until they were well again

Those in prison would carry out hunger strikes as an act of defiance

Carried out other militant tactics such as arson attacks & attacking police officers

Question 15

Suffragettes - Analysis For

Answer 15

Their militant methods gained a lot of publicity for their cause which put pressure on the government

Question 16

Suffragettes - Analysis Against

Answer 16

Violent methods gave impression that women were irresponsible & the government couldn’t be seen to be giving into these methods

Question 17

Suffragettes - Evaluation

Answer 17

Quite important in women gaining the vote due to attention they brought to their cause

WW1 more important, at the outbreak of war, Suffragettes suspended violent campaign, changed their newspaper from the Suffragette to the Britannia & it was these actions that gave women the recognition they needed to achieve the vote

Question 18

Other Countries - Knowledge

Answer 18

In 1906 Finland granted women the vote

Countries in the British Empire gave the vote to women
- In 1893 New Zealand gave women the vote

Question 19

Other Countries - Analysis For

Answer 19

British politicians keen to show they could keep up with this political reform

Question 20

Other Countries - Analysis Against

Answer 20

The UK only granted women the vote in 1918, 25 years later than New Zealand, a country within their empire. Even when women gained the vote it wasn’t until 1928 before all women were able to vote

Question 21

Conclusion

Answer 21

Changing social attitudes quite important for women gaining vote, WW1 most important reason. Changing social attitudes quite important as it made people more accepting of giving women the vote however, this was a gradual process, the war was the catalyst

Suffragettes helped to some extent by the publicity they brought to the cause but their violent methods alienated many people

Suffragists helped slightly with peaceful methods of persuasion convincing MPs to support the cause however, they were easy to ignore

WW1 most important reason because their efforts at home during the conflict changed people’s minds about them. Influential politicians brought round to the idea of women voting & finally were given the vote as a thank you for their efforts