The Effect of the First World War on Women's Rights By 1918, when the war had ended, there had been a change of attitude towards women and the right to vote. The Representation of the People Act gave the vote to some women and before the war all attempts by the women's movement to get the vote passed through Parliament had failed. Therefore, the work done by women in the war (1914-1918) proved to be very important in bringing about the change of attitudes towards women and allowing some to vote. The work done by women in the war was a short-term reason. Attitudes towards women and giving them the vote had been changing for a long time before this.
Prior to this, traditional men and government used the excuse that women were weak-minded and to emotional to vote. But their participation in the war and them working in factories which were not designed for women, with hard work, long hours, chemicals and heavy metals, proved them to be capable. This had to be noticed by the government. Source H suggests that the war acted as a catalyst for women’s suffrage. It says people are mistaken about how much the war really did to gain women the vote.
Women's Right to Vote due to Their Contribution to the War Effort In 1918 a major milestone was reached in the fight for women's equality rights, this was women being granted suffrage by the government. During the physical endurance of the four years of the war, women proving themselves equal to men, they were rewarded the vote. The Electoral Reform bill was passed which granted voting rights to all female property owners over 30. Some historians say women were never given the vote; it was hard fought for and won. Many historians believe the war to be a turning point because not only did it seal women's victory over the government it secured their status in society as an equivalent to men.
In 1870 as a result of the Education Act, women were eligible to serve on the newly created School Boards which had responsibility for the education of children in state schools. The feminists realized that unless great changes were made to the education received, wome... ... middle of paper ... ...hange in leaders who were more sympathetic to their cause. They used the war as an excuse to give women the right to vote. On the basis of this I disagree with the statement. However if women had not contributed to the war effort with the fervor that they did, parliament may not been able to justify giving women the vote.
WWI and Women's Right to Vote in 1918 The Campaign for women’s right to vote started in the 1860’s with mainly middle class women and some men. At first the campaigning was peaceful and respectable and the lobbying was conducted discretely, without causing hindrance to anyone. It commenced in large cities such as London and Manchester however soon more people joined and the campaign spread across England. The women were known as suffragists (NUWSS) and were an amalgamation of many suffragists’ societies but after four decades of campaigning some women felt they had made no progress and decided to take violent action. These were known as suffragettes (WSPU) and started in 1903.
It was going on in Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, United States, New Zealand, Australia and Italy. The women’s suffrage movement was not only striving for equal rights of women but also for voting privileges. For the purpose of the work I shall concentrate on events only in Britain. There are many reasons why the campaign for women’s suffrage developed in the years after 1870; one reason is that social attitudes began to change after 1870, for example; the idea of marriage as companionship began to hinder absolute male domination before 1870. Women were regarded by society as relatively weak, passive and dependant individuals who are less rational and more emotional than men.
Many religious believed God created women to be inferior. It was considered a natural law that men were above women. When women started the fight for more rights, it started out as a political and legal fight and eventually turned into a social and economic fight as well. Many women who started the fight, died before they could see there work pay off, including Susan Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucy Stone. In the U.S, Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis Warren fought for the addition of women’s emancipation in the constitution.
We will take a look at the transformations and the progresses that World War I brought to women in Britain in the field of working opportunities, we will take a look at the key event for the suffrage and not clearly positive women’s situation within society, but enthusiasm among women themselves. We will see that this period was one of the most radical, but some of the changes were temporary. The first change in the lives of British women was when the war began, and the men had to leave their working positions to go and fight for their nation, it was up to women to replace them. This was the first step of a long journey. For the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century it was typical for wo... ... middle of paper ... ... not even imagine few years ago have been made.
This education showed women that they too had rights and enabled them to realize how society neglected them. In 1870 state schools replaced the old disorganized factory and church schools, which meant that poor children were better educated. Unfortunately academic subjectwere still not taught to girls so it was not until later that larger amounts of working class women joined the movement. With better education women began to gain educated work. They were only offered jobs as teachers and nurses but these opportunities helped give women greater awareness about their rights and civil liberties.
Campaign for Women's Suffrage A campaign for women’s suffrage developed in the years after 1870 due to socio-economic and political reasons. The transformation of Britain into an industrialised nation prompted a change in the way gender roles were perceived; separate gender spheres in business, politics and the home were accentuated. Although a woman’s role was still thought to be in the home, they had complete control over all domestic affairs, and began to acknowledge the need to exert more power in the outside world. Religious missionaries, active in the humanitarian movement, were among the first feminists. It was from this feminine public sphere that demands for improvements in the position of women began to be made.