Britain Issue 3- Votes for women essay

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that they were very popular. Overall the changes in attitudes towards women was the most important reason why women became enfranchised in 1918. Before 1918, British society was completely changed by women occupations a more professional and prominent role in society as the number of women in professions which required a university degree almost doubled from 1820 to 1900. Therefore, changing attitudes was the most important factor because if the public did not believe that women were mature and capable enough to cast a vote, the Representation of the people's act would never have of been passed in 1918. Another important reason why women were given the vote in 1918 was because of the work of the Suffragettes. In 1903 the Women's Social Political Union (WSPU) and were led by Emmeline Pankhurst and they later became known as the Suffragettes. They used militant style tactics e.g. pouring acid into letterboxes, heckling MP's and smashing windows to convince people to believe in women's suffrage. As a result of their work they were able to keep the public and politicians thinking about votes for women. However, some people argue that the Suffragettes harmed the cause of votes for women because they fed into the narrative that women were too immature to be trusted with the sacred right to vote. Overall, the changing attitudes of society was more important than the work of the Suffragettes for women becoming enfranchised in 1918. The Suffragettes also used civil disobedience, e.g. many members of the WSPU refused to pay taxes and also refused to participate in the 1911 census. Therefore, this shows that the changing attitudes towards women by society was more important to women being given the vote because the highly educated women were less likely to accept living as second class citizens because they worked white collar jobs get were respected but the Suffragettes were not respected by very meant people because of their violent behaviour. Another reason why women were given the vote in 1918 was due to the long work of the Suffragists. In 1897, Millicent's Fawcett founded the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) which brought together many smaller groups of women fighting for the vote into one organisation. This group later became known as the Suffragists, they used peaceful tactics to persuade people to believe in their cause e.g. lobbying MP's, held netting and distributed pamphlets. As a result, they managed to gain the respect of many MP's and the general public with their peaceful persuasion. However, many people believe that the Suffragists were not very significant to women gaining the vote because their campaign was tedious and slow moving so it was easily ignored by many MP's. Finally, the influence of foreign countries was an important reason why women were given the vote in 1918. Other countries like New Zealand, Australia, Finland and Norway all gave women the right to vote in 1893, 1902, 1906 and 1907. This had an influence to encourage the Suffragists and Suffragettes to keep campaigning because it gave them hope that their campaigns would be as successful as the ones overseas. Therefore, politicians were given reassurance that in countries where women were allowed to vote had not experienced any major political crisis as many anti-suffrage campaigners had claimed would happen in Britain. Even so, some people believe that this had no part in Britain's decision to grant women the vote because at the time the British saw themselves as superior to other countries so some historians argue that they would not allow themselves to be influenced by smaller counties like Norway and Finland and certainly not by colonial countries like New Zealand and Australia. Overall, the influence of other countries was the least important reason why British women became enfranchised in 1918. It was never confirmed that the influence of other countries was even discussed or debated during the campaigns for women's suffrage. Therefore, the influence of foreign countries was the least important reason because Britain would only have been swayed to grant women the vote if bigger, more powerful countries started to do it too e.g. Germany and Russia. Women's war work was also a reason why women became enfranchised in 1918. Many women took on jobs in different areas of society when men were fighting in the war in order to keep the country going. 30% of women worked in munitions factories as well as transport drivers and as a part of the Women's Land Army to help provide for the country and provide the weapons needed to continue fighting a war. As a result, women gained the vote because this disproved the stereotype that women couldn't work and that certain jobs were only made for men, so helped change the attitudes of many British men. However, some argue that this had a limited impact on women becoming enfranchised as most of the women who participated in the war effort were unmarried, in their 20's and working class, but when women became enfranchised in 1918, the vote was only provided to married, middle class women over the age of 30. Overall, while it was true that the Suffragettes played a role in women gaining the vote in 1918, societies changing view on women was the most significant factor because highly qualified women prove d that they were capable of holding down white collar jobs and were therefore looked at as mature enough to cast a vote. The Suffragettes were less important because they fed into the narrative that women were too immature to vote. The suffragists were even less important because their campaigns seemed very cautious and they failed to gain the attention of many MP's. Finally, the influence of foreign countries was the least important factor because Britain believed that they were the 'Mother Of Democracy' and would not be influenced by smaller, less important countries e.g. Norway and definitely not by colonial countries e.g. Australia.