Why Women Did Not Gain the Vote in 1914

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Recommended: The Expectation of Women in British Society in the Nineteenth Century

Why Women Did Not Gain the Vote in 1914

In 1914 women could work as highly respected members of society. They

could be teachers, moulding the minds of future generations, doctors

or nurses caring for the sick and injured and of course mothers

possibly the most important role in society. Yet, they had no say in

how the world around them was run. This essay will explain why women

were blocked from the right to vote, why their say was disregarded,

and why they were seen as inferior, in early 20th centaury society.

Firstly, this male dominated society viewed women as weak, overly

emotional and under educated. The common women, the working class,

were not considered to be intellectual enough to vote in the

elections. They tended to miss school when they were younger to help

out at home with the laundry, sewing, cooking and looking after

siblings. This reflects how the males viewed their position in later

life, they should apparently only be thinking about the days chores,

not who would be the next leader of their country. It was societies

belief that the women's place was to support the man, and that women

should not try and become as important as him in society.

On the other hand the upper class women was educated, just not on the

right subject matter. Women with more riches and property were mainly

educated in etiquette, and all they seemed to want out of life was to

get married and have children. This of course meant that they didn’t

think about the policies for the country very much, and were more

concerned with chocolate, puppies, babies, hats, letters and dresses,

or so the men thought. Proof that the women of the middle classes

really were concerned with politics came with the suffragette and

suffragist movements.

Although these two campaign groups are much heard about, they did a

lot more harm for the cause than good, making men believe that women

were reckless creatures that needed to be controlled, rather than the

human beings that they were.

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