Sources Regard Suffragettes example essay topic

Waverley G.C.S. E History Coursework Assignments Assignment Two Syllabus 'C' 1327 By Ola Akin lade 7/11/03 Women's Right To Vote The right to vote (suffrage) in general elections was given to women over thirty years of age in 1918. This new law was passed by parliament at the end of the First World War (1914-1918). Although on 2nd July 1928 the law was passed allowing all women over the age of 21 to vote. Some women had been campaigning for women's right to vote for many years before the war started. 'Suffragists' was the name given to those women who campaigned peacefully for this; 'Suffragettes' was the name given to those women who used violence in their campaigns to secure the right to vote. The Suffragettes produced eye-catching posters, organised demonstrations, broke shop windows, chained themselves to railings and set fire to post-boxes.

Fights with police sometimes broke out and, when arrested and imprisoned, some women went on hunger- strike. When war against Germany broke out in August 1914, the Suffragettes stopped their campaigning and threw their support behind the war effort. They encouraged men to join the army and appealed to women to take over the work of men while they were away fighting. In this assignment I will investigate why the right to vote was granted for some women in 1918. From source A we learn that the Suffragettes main reason for demanding the rights to vote was due to the way in which women were treated in society. Women from all classes held barely any significance in society, they were treated highly inferior to men and were looked upon as incapable and confused.

As this perception of women continued in society, the women's feelings against these perceptions continued to grow. The 'Suffragists' and 'Suffragettes' believed strongly in women's equality. The first demand for a women's vote was from a soon to be suffragette member, Mar Smith. In 1832 Mar petitioned Parliament the inclusion of propertied women as those privileged to vote for members of Parliament. The House of Commons laughed at Ms Smith, this reaction was repeated constantly for the next few decades until it came to a point in which the whole nation was forced to consider women's suffrage seriously.

Through much effort in the early twentieth century English feminists accomplished many goals: women could serve on town councils and school boards. They became factory inspectors, nurses, mothers, teachers, doctors and like Dr Elizabeth Garrett Anderson even became mayors. Some women could even vote in select regional elections if they had enough property. But women could still not vote for Parliament. The Suffragette poster produced in 1912 and used as Source A explains this.

Women who had proved themselves to be responsible, capable, and intelligent by the occupations that they held, were still refused access to vote, whereas men who suffered from mental illness, life threatening addictions or were criminals did not loose their right their right to vote. This poster instantly presents the significance women had in society and how they suffered from injustice at the hands of men. Source B does support the evidence of source C about the suffragettes campaign. Firstly both sources are against the activity of the Suffragettes.

Both sources feel negatively and annoyed towards the members and the movement of the suffrage. Both sources regard Suffragettes as 'shrill' or 'shrieking' and not the cause of women in society. And although source B supports source C it seems to be under different circumstances. Source B is taken from a book called 'Woman or Suffragette' written by Marie Corelli in 1907. Source B puts forward a reasoned argument as to why there is and why there is no purpose in the suffrage movement. Although source B seems to agree with the suffragettes with the way in which women are treated highly inferior to men, unlike source C, source B blames this on the mother's upbringing of their sons.

The author of source B seems to have traditional values, and believes in the method of women staying at home with the children whilst the men go to work. Source B does not believe in women voters, but as stated in the source, the author believes that women are better at making men voters, 'rather than voting themselves'. Source C on the other hand is a cartoon drawn by Bernard Partridge, a cartoonist who like source B is against women's suffrage. Source C is a mocking of woman's suffrage; the cartoonist seems to think women's suffrage is absurd. The picture was drawn to arouse public attention.

The caption in source C hints that the reason for the cartoonist opposing against women's suffrage is because of women's chaotic and hazardous behaviour, which has been proved by the suffragettes in their violent, and aggressive campaigns. Source C is basically telling us that the suffragettes think they " ll help get the women's right to vote, when their chaotic behaviour was the exact reason why they never had it in the first place. Despite the Suffragette activity, women had not gained the vote by the outbreak of the First World War; this was due to votes against them by the public, the consistent refusal by the government, the constant rebuff by the prime minister, and their extreme militancy and vehement behaviour. Soon after the first hunger strike by Marion Wallace in 1909, Suffrage became a national issue and grew even more between the years of 1910 and 1912. The hunger strike event aroused a public outcry on the side of the suffragettes, it was looked at as a form of torture especially as it was being applied to women this created much sympathy for the suffragettes. The mounting public pressure forced the government to react although they had been trying to avoid the issue for as long as possible.

In 1910 a Conciliation Law was drafted in Parliament it was to allow a certain amount of women to vote that was acceptable to the greatest of MPs of all parties. The WSPU (Women's social and Political Union, another form of suffragettes) thought at last justice would be served; they declared a truce on all militancy for nine months so that no excuse could be used by government for delaying the new law. The new law failed to pass. The WSPU, discouraged, resumed to their normal tactics.

Public support grew even more as the Parliament delayed. In 1913, the French Reform Law, another Suffrage Law, had reached the appropriate levels of Parliament, but was tossed out due to bureaucratic slip-up, WSPU became dangerously frustrated. This constant refusal by the government participated in the reason as to why the suffragettes did not win the vote before the First World War. Years of struggling and self-sacrifice allowed the suffragettes no closer to enfranchisement than they had started.

Even some Parliamentary members sympathized with suffragettes; MP Kier Hardie said, "What else is left for these women to do but militant tactics?"Destructive militancy" replied Sylvia Pankhurst (Daughter of the founder of the Suffragettes). In source D, Emmeline Pankhurst (founder of the Suffragettes) expresses her reasons as to why she violently campaigned and why she would not give up. The first result of women's suffrage being shot down for the second time was what would later be called 'Black Friday'. On November 18, 1913, a crowd of Pankhurst's suffragettes strained to see the exiting MP's and ministers demanding reasons as to why the laws on suffrage had failed to pass. This was the first true suffragette riot ensued. Throughout my reading on The British Suffragette Movement it is constantly repeated that nothing quite like the event of 'Black Friday' had been seen before in the presence of Parliament.

For six long, violent, sometimes brutal hours there raged in parliament square what could only be described as a battle between the police and not the unemployed, the homeless or the needy but middle and upper class women of all ages. In this quote by Emmeline Pankhurst (Founder of the Suffragettes) it is made obvious that the police no longer cared about how they treated women "One woman I saw thrown down with violence then four times in rapid succession, every moment grew fiercer". Even the police arrested the rioters, but the women were not prosecuted because the government was afraid of further demonstrations. Unfortunately, soon after this event Prime Minister Herbert Asquith announced that no other suffrage law would be considered for an uncertain amount of time. (But as shown in source J the Prime minister soon changed his mind). This caused another riot dubbed by the press the 'Battle of Downing Street'.

In this riot over 185 suffragettes were arrested, and the violence rose to such a level that the London Times called the demonstrators 'demented creatures'. A member of Parliament in 1913 as shown in source E explained how he believed that if women's suffrage was granted, the control of the government would be placed at the hands of such females. It was at this point that the WSPU severely increased its militancy; they issued a statement declaring that 'as the Prime minister will not give woman the right to vote their next step was to revert to a state of war'. The suffrage then began to lose public support.

The actions the WSPU now undertook were specifically done to ensure publicity. Both public and private property was destroyed. Among other actions, the suffragette arson to houses, seared golf courses with acid, burnt down sports pavilions, broken street lamps, stomped on flower beds, painted 'Votes for Women' on the seats of Hampstead heath, plugged up keyholes with lead pellets, slashed the cushions on train seats, staged false fire alarms, threw rocks at the windows of Parliament buildings and houses of elected officials, severed telephone wires, blew up fuse placed bombs near the Bank of England. This vandal criminal behaviour was used against the suffragettes to delay suffrage and participated as another reason as to why women had not won the vote by the First World War.

These drastic measures culminated on June 4, 1913 when one of the most famous suffragettes, Emily Davidson threw herself under the king's race horse at Tattenham Center, toppling both the horse and the horse's jockey but by the time Davidson's body was recovered from the track and taken to hospital, it was far too late. Davidson became the movements first, and only martyr. These actions by the WSPU whilst attracting huge amounts of publicity had caused the opposite effect intended on the public. Most people prior to the outbreak of rampant militancy supported the cause of women's suffrage, but once the new actions started began to disapprove. People who were against women's suffrage in Parliament used the terrorist actions performed by the Suffragettes to their advantage in debate, citing the insane actions as to very good reasons why women should not get the vote. The more militant the WSPU became, the more unwilling Parliament was to grant women the vote, and the more firmly the Parliament stood against the issues of suffrage, the more violent and desperate the suffragettes became.

This stalemate was one of the main reasons as to why women had not gained the right to vote by the outbreak of the First World War. Although after the war, and much striving women were finally given suffrage. This was due to their unselfish behaviour during the war, in which they put a halt to militancy knowing that both distractions would be too much for the English society. And then undertook jobs and responsibilities that were undreamed of before the war such as working in munitions factories, hospital and municipal offices proving a stability and maturity which had been contradicted.

These women had shown themselves capable taking part in Civil Service and industrial work, this had proved they were able and were given their right to further their responsibility. Sources F and G are fairly useful as evidence for the contribution of women to the war effort in the years 1914-1918. Source F is a poster produced by the government in 1916; it is propaganda of women's efforts during the war. It is a poster, which presented to the public that women are capable of managing their husbands and sons jobs, just as well as the men themselves. The poster being produced had shown that women's efforts were recognised. The woman on the front of the poster is clothed in factory clothes, her arms also placed upon her head as if in victory.

This image in itself already presented that women deserved and were going to be given the right to vote. Behind the women in the poster is a scene of war, this allowed people to relate to these women's courage and ability. Also stated at the bottom of the poster, in large font is 'Enrol at once' these few words reveal that women had finally been admitted as members of society. This poster is quite useful as evidence for women's efforts during the war, it allows you to feel the courage of these women and respect them for it. Source G is statistics from a school textbook, published in the 1980's. The information displayed by source G gives you a more accurate idea of women's actual contribution in the war.

It gives you the facts and allows you to make your own judgement as to whether women taking over men's jobs during the war was a good idea. Source G is a very useful source of evidence, and as seen in the source it proves how much women had contributed in the war. Source G verifies that women did the work of men in 1914 and in 1918 the number of women doing men's jobs more than tripled in Great Britain. 5 ' It was the work that women did during the war that earned them the vote. ' I do not fully agree with this interpretation. I believe women working during the war participated in women finally getting the vote, but it was not the main purpose.

I feel that women would not have gained the vote, even after their work in the war if they had not demanded for it so desperately for the previous 70 years. The militancy of the suffragettes served an invaluable purpose and without it the government could have and did, before 1910 state that there was no real evidence suggesting that the women even wanted the vote. The militants destroyed this theory in the most public way available, in those days that was through the press. They destroyed property, staging demonstrations, and creating fires.

The militants kept the cause of suffrage constantly in the papers and constantly an issue, keeping suffrage fresh in the minds of both the public and the Parliament. Source J is a speech by Herbert Asquith who had been Prime minister from 1908 to 1916 when he had opposed of giving women the vote. The speech used as source J was written in 1917, just after the women's helping hand in the war, and during the time of when the women's law was once again being debated. In source J, Asquith believes that women now deserve the right to vote. He's reason is due to their good service in the war, but as seen in the source Asquith also refers gratefully to the pause of the violent campaigns. It is then made obvious that the government enjoyed the domestic quiet granted by the Suffragettes during the war, and were not eager to fall once again into the terrorist and destructive acts of the WSPU.

Asquith's comment on the halt to violent campaigns gives me the impression that it was Asquith's fear of WSPU's response if refused another enfranchisement that eventually caused him to agree with women's suffrage. In the past WSPU's militancy became a lot worse each time they were refused suffrage. Asquith who had been Prime minister each time WSPU was opposed, had followed their destructions and knew exactly what they were capable of. The result if the Suffragettes had been refused the right to vote after they had proved themselves capable, after the war period would be a very memorable demonstration combined with both extreme violence and extreme chaos. Source H is taken from a History book called 'Women's suffrage in Britain'. Within source H it is stated that ' Politicians themselves agreed with the idea that the women who had brought children up successfully had performed a service for the government which could be rewarded by giving the vote to such loyal citizens.

' I don't agree that women raising their children correctly participated in anyway to women eventually getting the vote, I feel it was another one of the Parliaments false promises intended to keep down militancy. Source I was taken from a history book called 'Women at War 1914-1918' this source explains how saying war brought votes for women was speaking generally, but contained some truth. This source also speaks of how many events, despite the war had an impact on the woman's suffrage being granted. I fully agree with this source, it reads in between the lines and wants you to be aware of other events that may have contributed to the grant of women's suffrage besides their good service in the war.

Although the extreme violent measures carried out by women in the short term delayed women's suffrage, combined with the increased respect women received during World War I, I believe the protests actually helped ensure the granting's of suffrage to women in Britain in January of 1918. It is debatable how much effect the suffragette's movement had on bringing about changes in voting laws. Some believe the movement's militancy made the Government more intransigent. Others say the 1918 Act was passed as a reward for women's efforts during the war rather than anything the suffragettes did. There is no doubt, however, that the suffragettes raised the profile of the issue of women's votes to that of national consideration. Waverley G.C.S. E History Coursework Assignments Assignment Two Syllabus 'C' 1327 Women's Right To Vote The right to vote (suffrage) in general elections was given to women over thirty years of age in 1918.