What Led To Women Getting the Vote in 1918
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British women had very few rights and opportunities in the first half of the nineteenth century. By 1900 there were some improvements that allowed women to go to university and qualify for what they wanted. However they didn’t have the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
The militant campaigns charged by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) with their members called the suffragettes made their efforts to gain the right to vote by vandalism and extreme violence such as attacking government officials and burning down Lloyd George’s house in February 1913. Some of the suffragettes were so ruthless and determined that they refused to eat which led to the force feeding at prisons and later the ‘cat and mouse act’. Famously at the Epson Derby Emily Davidson threw herself onto the King’s horse. It is not known how this factor lead to the women getting the vote but it certainly made an impact. They thought that the NUWSS was ineffective that’s why they used violent methods to get the governments attention and focused on general elections such as the 1905 hoping the new leaders (liberals) will be sympathetic to there cause such as MPs like Lloyd George. The suffragette’s methods gained more supporters and get more publicity which helped them with funds.
The National Union of Women’s Suffrage was responsible for uniting suffrage groups from all over England in 1897 under Millicent Fawcett. Although it claimed to be non-political, many high profile members were also members of the Women’s Liberal Federation, which was sympathetic to the aims of the Liberal Party or had ready access through family or friends to decision making of the party members. By the end of the nineteenth century NUWSS branches were found throughout Britain by 1910 the membership numbered around 21,500 with thousand more supporters and male associates throughout the country.
One important factor was after years of rejection from the new Liberal Party because most members didn’t want women to have the right to vote including their leader Herbert Asquith and also they made a pact with the Irish Nationalist which also didn’t want women to vote so they rejected bills from 1906 to 1913. Also arresting women and treating them as ordinary criminal would be treated. However the WSPU and the NUWSS were working together so they made a pact with the Labour Party whereby the NUWSS set up an electoral fight fund support Labour candidates in constituencies where they were fighting candidates that opposed the suffrage. Between 1912 and 1914 several Liberals failed to get elected because of NUWSS support for their Labour opponents. Therefore the Liberal Party was pressurizing prospective MPs to support women’s suffrage and seemed to be part of its election manifesto.
The most important and deciding factor to the women’s suffrage was after the war in 1918. It was generally accepted among politicians that there was a need to reform the franchise. Many member of the Speakers conference met behind closed doors in 1916 which a lot of people were sympathetic to women’s suffrage so they submitted a report to the parliament that women at the age of around 30 or 35 should be able to vote. The thought of it affecting one party over another was vanished because they felt there was a social mix in such a large group of women of the age 30 so they would be moderate in their voting habits.
Most importantly the Women’s efforts and support during the war lead to MPs such as Asquith to change their minds about women’s right to vote. The Representation of the People Act that became a law in February 1918, gave the right to vote in parliamentary elections to all men over 21 and to all women over 30 year who were on government register or who were married to men on the local government register.
There was no reason women should not have been given the same terms as men but that fact remains the act was compromised which was acceptable to all main parties including the WSPU and NUWSS.
To conclude I believe the deciding factor that gave the women the right to vote was their support and hard work towards the war efforts. The women’s part in the war earned them the respect of many MPs including Asquith which came to the Representation of the People Act that became a law that states women over 30 who were registered on the local government register could vote.
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The reason it was only women over 30 was because it was believed at the time, that 30 was the age women would be mature enough to understand politics and be more family oriented which made them less of a threat.
They didn't have to be married.
Although it is true most of the women working in the munition factories were under 30- this was not the reason behind the age limit.
That's my opinion anyway
Then women were not seen as equal to men and the voting age for men was 21, so it had to be higher for women.
Also the "angel in the house" was supported and it still is to a certain extent today but it was not the deciding factor.
The House of Commons felt the women deserved some rights due to their effort in the war for which they were grateful. And the suffrage movement got a lot of attention and showed women were a lot tougher than they anticipated.
The women were not close to gaining votes before the war but some people did support the idea but they were a minority.
This is the kind of thing we need to be reminded of occasionally. The battle ain't over yet, not by a long shot, especially when so many women actually believe they have achieved equality.
Yasmin 3 months ago
I don't know when this was written, but I disagree. Women's war work seemed to have quite the opposite effect. For one- the majority of women that actually helped towards the war effort were not enfranchised in 1918. Only married women over 30 were enfranchised- These in most cases were not the women working in munition factories ( the worst and most dangerous type of work)/ or for women's war work organisations. Rewarding married women over 30 with the vote suggests that instead of encouraging women to work outside of the private sphere, they supported the "angel in the house" idea of women as housewives and homemakers. It is also argued that women were close to attaining the vote before the war and that the war had instead delayed women this. Before the war “Asquith received deputations from the NUWSS and the ELFS; Sir John Simon emerged as a cabinet supporter; and Lloyd George offered a place on his platform to suffrage speakers. There was also evidence to suggest that the Liberal Party was pressurising prospective MPS to support women’s suffrage and replacing those unsympathetic to the suffrage cause with those who agreed with it”.