Why did women get the vote in 1918

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Why did women get the vote in 1918?
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Learning Objectives

• Today I will
• Learn about the way in which the vote was finally
  won in 1918.
• Consider a variety of arguments about why women
  got the right to vote in 1918.
• Form an overall judgement on whether the war got
  women the vote.

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How did women get the vote?
Preparations began in 1916 to reform the voting
system since many men had lost the right to vote
by going to war. This obviously was unacceptable
and needed changing. The NUWSS heard about this
and began to pressure the government to include
votes for women on the bill.
In 1917 a Conference on Electoral Reform
recommended that some women should be given the
vote. Later the same year the House of Commons
voted 385 in favour and 55 against this new bill.
On 6th February 1918 the bill became law the
Representation of the People Act. It gave women
over the age of 30 the right to vote and the
right to become MPs, and all men over the age of
21 the right to vote. Out of an electorate of 21
million, 8 million were now women.
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Did the war get women the vote?

• In groups of 4 each take one of the sources A-D.
  Read through it carefully and answer the relevant
  questions.
• Then come back together as a whole group and one
  by one explain your what your source says about
  the reasons why women got the vote. Make notes
  from this discussion on a table like the one
  below.

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Source A It is frequently said that women were
given the vote because of the warThe war
changed the situation in more ways than are
obvious t first sight. The obvious effect was
that womens contribution to the war effort was
seen and appreciated and that women, instead of
being subjected to frequent criticism in the
press and by public figures, were generally
praised. Public opinion became overwhelmingly
favourable towards women. In addition, public
opinion also became more democratic generally, as
the shared hardships created a more equal society
and lessened the emphasis on class divisions.
There was a general desire that sacrifices should
not be in vain and that a better world should
come out of the war. Surely a land fit for
heroes to live in might include a place for a few
heroines as well? The war also emphasised the
participation of women in everyday life of the
nation. It was obvious to all that women were
driving vehicles, acting as bus conductors and
filling many posts customarily help by men.
Besides these obvious changes, the war
transformed the political situationIt was
obvious that the campaign would recommence once
the war was over if nothing was done to
enfranchise women. It would have been extremely
embarrassing and probably unpopular as well to
imprison women who had played such an important
part in the war effort. Constance Rover, Womens
Suffrage and Party Politics in Britain 1866-1914,
published in 1967.
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Source B It would be naïve to believe that women
received the vote solely for services rendered in
the First World War. It must be remembered that
only women over 30 were given the vote and the
very women who had helped in the war effort the
young women of the munitions factories were
actually denied the vote. The significance of
womens war work in the achievement of the vote
is therefore perhaps not as great as first
assumed. In reality, the women were greatly
resented in both agriculture and industryMen
froze out women workers, gave them no help and
even sabotaged their workThe reasons for the
shift which took place in Government thinking
therefore need consideration. Firstly and
perhaps most importantly, there was a need for
franchise reform in general. Large numbers of
soldiers were ineligible to vote. This of course
would not do. Secondly, there were a number of
changes in Parliament which altered the balance
between those who opposed and those who were in
favour of votes for women. Several Suffragist
MPs were promoted to the Cabinet. More
importantly Lloyd George, who was sympathetic to
womens suffrage, replaced Asquith as PM in
December 1916. Thirdly, the war gave hostile MPs
the excuse to climb down. These MPS realised
that reform was inevitable and used womens war
work as an excuse to change their minds without
looking stupid Finally, Britain was merely
reflecting an international trend towards full
democracy. Women in New Zealand, Australia,
Finland and Denmark had already been
enfranchisedIt would have been a peculiar
embarrassment if the mother of democracy,
Britain, lagged behind other countries. Paula
Bartley, Votes for Women 1860-1928, published in
1998.
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Source C The process by which womens
participation in the war effort brought consider
social, economic and political gains can be
traced in a very straightforward manner. The
first issue to stress is the desire of
governments to offer rewards for services
rendered during the war. But two further changes
are also critical the increased sense of their
own capacity and increased self-confidence on the
part of women themselves and, on the other side,
the total destruction of all the old arguments
about about womens proper place in the
community, which men and women had previously
raised against any moves towards political and
social equality for women. In the political story
what is most striking is the way in which one
after another all the old leading opponents of
the idea of votes for women recant, and declare
that since women have played such a vital part in
the national effort, of course they must be
allowed to share in the politics of their
country. However, political rights are only one
side of the story. Women also gained a new
measure of economic independence. And, whatever
the intentions of law-makers, they gained a new
self-reliance and new social freedoms. Arthur
Marwick, War and Social Change in the Twentieth
Century, published 1974.
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Source D It seems reasonable to argue that
British Suffragists might fairly have expected to
have gained the vote by 1918 if a Liberal
Government had been returned in the expected
general election. It is even possible that there
might have been a limited measure of womens
suffrage under a Conservative government. All
this must significantly weaken the
interpretations which stress the war as a
decisive factor in women winning the vote. It
might even be that the war postponed (delayed)
such a victory. What is definite is the
importance of the Suffragists and Suffragettes
own efforts, especially the democratic and
peaceful Suffragists, in securing the strong
position enjoyed by their cause in July 1914.
Womens war work may have been important in
converting some former opponents but even before
this the political alliances the women had
secured in support of their cause ensured that
women would have been included in any future
reform bill irrelevant of whether or not war
broke out. Sandra Stanley Holton, Feminism and
Democracy, published in 1986
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Did the war get women the vote?

• Provide an overall conclusion to the key question
  Did the war get women the vote? which you think
  would be acceptable to historians on both the
  yes and no side of the argument.