Votes for women,

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Votes for women, 1900-1918
Richard Fitzsimmons Strathallan School
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In the following lesson you will learn

• About the status of women at the beginning of
  the 20th Century, and how things changed
• The arguments for and against women having the
  vote
• The activities and methods of the Suffragists
  and Suffragettes

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The status of women before 1900

• Before 1870 most working-class girls did not go
  to school, their duty was to obey their husband
  and do everything to make sure his life was as
  easy as possible. Any girls education reinforced
  this view
• Occupations open to women were mainly menial
  domestic servants, small workshops, sewing,
  textile factories, working at home
• By the start of the 20th C, other opportunities
  were opening up for women

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Further work opportunities

• Jobs in shops, as typists, on telephone
  switchboards but
• Hours were long (as much as 80 per week)
• Women often had to leave if they got married
• Women were often paid a great deal less than men
  doing similar jobs

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New employment opportunities were opening up for
middle-class women, who may have at least had
some education at home, or been lucky enough to
have had some schooling discrimination was
still possible

• In 1870s Sophia Jex-Blake completed a medical
  degree at Edinburgh University, but was refused
  her degree ! Her case caused some Universities to
  change their attitude to women Oxford and
  Cambridge opened Womens colleges, there were
  also some teacher training colleges opened

• Teaching female teachers had to be single
• Nursing but had to resign when they married
• Clerical work - answering telephones and typing

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In marriages, women were in a very inferior
position to their husbands

• when they married all their property went to
  their husbands even they became their husbands
  property !
• Wives were often treated with violence and
  assaulted by husbands
• Women could not start divorce proceedings

• By 1900 women could bring divorce cases against
  their husbands for cruelty, desertion and bigamy
• They could keep their own property after marriage
• Women could leave the marital home voluntarily if
  in danger

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But, some things did not change

• Wife-battering and marital sexual assaults were
  still legal
• Husbands could divorce wives for adultery, but
  wives would have to prove violence or cruelty in
  similar cases
• If a divorce occurred, a mother would lose her
  rights over her children

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Summary

• Women were stopped from entering many
  professions, despite the improvement in their
  educational position by 1900
• Women were still regarded as inferior to men
• The law was still biased in favour of men
• The pace of social change was slow

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Change was finally on the way

• In the 19th Century, women had not been allowed
  to vote in parliamentary elections, or be MPs
• By 1900 votes for women was becoming an
  important issue, and arguments were being
  advanced for and against the idea
• Two groups campaigned for votes the NUWSS
  (National Union of Womens Suffrage Societies)
  and the WSPU (Womens Social and Political Union)

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Focus on the NUWSS

• Founded in 1897 by Millicent Fawcett
• Brought together a series of disparate groups,
  all with the same objective
• By 1914, over 400 branches all over the country,
  over 100000 members
• Democratic organisation which used peaceful means
  such as discussion and persuasion
• Members were mainly middle-class and working-
  class, and some men were allowed to join

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Focus on the WSPU

• Founded by Emmeline Pankhurst and her two
  daughters Christabel and Sylvia in 1903
• Branches all over the country, but this was not a
  democratic organisation it was closely
  controlled by the Pankhursts
• Formed because they were impatient with the
  peaceful, and slow methods of the NUWSS
• Often used violent and abusive methods, many
  members went to prison for their actions
• Men were not allowed to join members were mainly
  middle and upper-class women

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Arguments supporting votes for women

• The vote is the way to get rid of other
  inequalities
• The vote will improve mens moral and sexual
  behaviour
• Women are capable of being involved in politics
• There have been many changes in womens roles
• Look at what is happening in other countries
• Voting is a right to which women are entitled
• Britain is not a true democracy until women have
  the vote

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Arguments opposing votes for women

• Women and men have separate spheres
• Most women do not want the vote
• A womans role is in local affairs
• Women are already represented by their husbands
• It is dangerous to change a system that works
• Women do not fight to defend their country

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Methods used to win the vote

• Propaganda the WSPU published a newspaper
  called Votes for Women circulation of 40,000 by
  1914
• Pin badges, belts, jewellery
• Posters, leaflets, postcards
• Meetings and demonstrations all over Britain,
  some attracted 20,000 women

• Lobbying Parliament petitions and letters - in
  1910 one gained over 250,000 signatures
• Civil disobedience refusal to pay taxes etc
• Attacking property window smashing, arson,
  bombs, works of art in galleries, telegraph lines
  were cut, recreational parks were vandalised

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Methods used to win the vote

• Hunger strikes began in 1909 as a way of
  forcing the authorities to recognise suffragettes
  prisoners as political prisoners
• The authorities decided to force-feed some of
  them. Some suffragettes barricaded themselves in
  their cells to avoid this
• The government hit back with the Cat and Mouse
  Act

• Attacks on prominent people doctors who
  force-fed suffragettes in prison
• Axe thrown at the Prime Minister
• Heckling politicians at meetings
• Disrupting political meetings with publicity
  stunts such as abseiling into a Liberal Party
  meeting

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How did women win the vote ?

• By 1916 many men who were eligible to vote had
  lost that right as they were out of the country
  for more than a year
• The NUWSS put pressure on the government to
  consider giving women the vote
• In 1917 the House of Commons voted by 385-55 that
  women should have the vote.
• In February 1918 the Bill became law

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What did the Bill say ?

• The Bill said that
• women over the age of 30 could have the vote
• Women over 30 could become MPs
• All men over 21 were given the vote
• Out of an electorate of 21 million, some 8
  million were now women, though there was still no
  proper equality it was believed that younger
  women might not be responsible enough to exercise
  their vote, and the government was worried in
  case there were more women voters than men