The Acquisition of Women's Suffrage
In this essay I will Asses the validity of the two views on why women
over 30 gained the vote in 1918. Some people believe that women got
the vote because of the struggle to gain the vote, for example the
activities of the Suffragists and Suffragettes. Other people however,
would argue that women got the vote due to their contribution to the
war effort.
Those people who believe that it was the activities or the campaign of
the Suffragists and Suffragettes that earned women the vote in 1918
would argue that their activities made the public realise that women
could be doing other things apart from looking after the children.
They made a lot of effort to try and convince other women that men
were not better than them by producing their own newspapers, holding
public meetings, presenting petitions to the government and forming
peaceful marches.
However those people that don’t agree with this could argue that the
illegal, violent and militant activities of the Suffragettes hardened
the opposition to their demands. The government decided that they
didn’t want to give women the vote if they were lawless and destroyed
other people’s properties as well as risking other people’s lives. The
activities of the Suffragettes made the government very angry and
disappointed.
Women helped the government during the war. They worked in the armed
forces as nurses, in the Voluntary Aid Detachments as drivers and
secretaries and in the motorcar industry as mechanics. The government
would not have survived during the war without the help of the women
so they decided to give women the vote as a reward for their hard
work.
Based on the evidence presented above, I can conclude that both
arguments are very valid. We cannot lose the site that women struggled
to get the vote. They put their lives in risk just to achieve their
In this essay I will Asses the validity of the two views on why women
over 30 gained the vote in 1918. Some people believe that women got
the vote because of the struggle to gain the vote, for example the
activities of the Suffragists and Suffragettes. Other people however,
would argue that women got the vote due to their contribution to the
war effort.
Those people who believe that it was the activities or the campaign of
the Suffragists and Suffragettes that earned women the vote in 1918
would argue that their activities made the public realise that women
could be doing other things apart from looking after the children.
They made a lot of effort to try and convince other women that men
were not better than them by producing their own newspapers, holding
public meetings, presenting petitions to the government and forming
peaceful marches.
However those people that don’t agree with this could argue that the
illegal, violent and militant activities of the Suffragettes hardened
the opposition to their demands. The government decided that they
didn’t want to give women the vote if they were lawless and destroyed
other people’s properties as well as risking other people’s lives. The
activities of the Suffragettes made the government very angry and
disappointed.
Women helped the government during the war. They worked in the armed
forces as nurses, in the Voluntary Aid Detachments as drivers and
secretaries and in the motorcar industry as mechanics. The government
would not have survived during the war without the help of the women
so they decided to give women the vote as a reward for their hard
work.
Based on the evidence presented above, I can conclude that both
arguments are very valid. We cannot lose the site that women struggled
to get the vote. They put their lives in risk just to achieve their