4. Findings
4. 1 Research into the background of women pre World War 1 (WW1) and the general lifestyle of women in late 19th century and early 20th. The founding of Suffragette movement.
4.1.1
In 1893, New Zealand was the first self governing country to grant women the right to vote, a year later the colony of South Australia granted women the same.
4.1.2
(i) During the period of 1848 – 1914 – pre WW1 – the rights for women were fought for, with some outcomes being positive and others not too successful. The campaigners were mainly the middle-class women.
(ii) The Married Women's Property Acts of 1870, 1874 and 1882 were acts of Parliament that gave women the opportunity to legally own money that they had went and earned and thus meaning they could go out and inherit houses.
(iii) Women, stereotypically were housewives – they cooked, they cleaned and nurtured and cared for their young ones. Before WW1 that was the role of the typical Women, they where in the household doing these chores whilst the man was out working and providing for the family. Women also weren't in education so they didn’t get taught vital information or how to vote as they weren‘t taught politics, this meaning they were ignorant in terms of not knowing about voting systems or how to vote.
4.1.3
(i) Suffragettes were a women’s movement organisation that came around in the late 19th and early 20th Century, commonly involving militants in Great Britain such as the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).
(ii) Emmeline Pankhurst who was previous member of the Manchester suffragist group and had grown bored and impatient of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Society (NUWSS) decided in 1903 to leave them and create her own group which became known as the WSPU.
(iii) The WSPU was led by Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst. They were influenced by Russian methods of protests such as hunger strikes, chaining themselves to railways to provoke an arrest, pouring chemicals into mailboxes, breaking windows and damaging churches. These acts were committed to gain publicity for them and allow others worldwide to see just how much they wanted this.
(iv) The WSPU had a newspaper called ‘Votes for Women’ which sold 20,000 copies each week. With this happening their existence was becoming more acknowledged within media and also worldwide as they had many branches all over the world. The Daily Mail shortly branded them ‘The Suffragettes’ and this is how they got their name.
(v) The motto of the suffragettes was ‘deeds not words’ and from 1912 they became more well known through there progressing violent acts. The treatment of the women throughout the war made people sympathise with them as they where being thrown in jail and treated extremely badly. However, there behaviour made them show that women aren't responsible enough to be granted the vote.
4.2 Women’s Role in WW1 – Jobs they done. Suffragette famous riots/protests – how these all link with the women getting the vote
4.2.1
Married women were forced into working following deaths of husbands,
"200,000 women took up jobs in governmental departments. “500,000 took up clerical positions in private offices. 250,000 worked on in agricultural positions. 700,000 women took up posts in the munitions industry, which was dangerous work.” These statistics show how many women were put in the workforce and made to tackle the difficult jobs men had done prior to the War. Many more women did hard heavy work, including ship building and furnace stoking. These types of jobs had not considered women leading up to WW1 and between 1914-1918 it was estimated that more than 2 million women took over men’s jobs. However, despite doing these jobs, women were still not entitled to equal pay, which brought up more issues regarding the equal pay rights.
4.2.2
(i) Emily Davison fought for woman suffrage and had previously been convicted 9 times and was force fed 49 times. On June 4th 1913, Davison stepped in front of King George's V's horse – Anmer – at Empson Derby. Davison suffered fatal injuries and as a result from these died 4 days later never regaining consciousness. Her funeral was organised by the WSPU and thousands attended. She was admired from the public for her bravery, courage and determination to get women the vote.
(ii) Emmeline Pankhurst decided to suspend the work of the Suffragettes and her actions to fully focus on trying to recruit women into the workplace covering for the men who had died in battle. Many of the suffragettes went on hunger strikes when they were imprisoned, Marion Wallace Dunlop was the first women in 1909 to go on a hunger strike. She was released early from prison due to medical reasons. Other suffragettes inherited Dunlops methods and it became very well known in the media. The Prisons in 1909 adopted a new practice of force feeding as if the suffragettes died from the hunger strikes, it would be the prison to blame. The prison force fed the prisoners through a tube up there nose into their stomachs while the prisoners where strapped down.
4.3.3
In 1918 women over the age of 30 and with certain housing were granted the vote. The suffragettes helped women get the vote as they where in the public media a lot, and they showed women to be courageous and high-lightened their bravery for example the Emily Davison case. They were being sympathised with by surrounding countries. However, some historians could argue they didn't help as it also showed women to be violent, and not trustworthy to be granted with the vote. Furthermore, WW1 helped women get the vote as it showed women were now valued as they where involved in munitions – making weapons for the men at war. They took on men’s jobs such as Police force, Army, Bus and Tram Drivers. However, it was mostly women under the age of 30 doing all the jobs and they weren't granted the vote until 1928.
4.4 . Life after the war for women and after the suffragette movement. How this has all impacted on today’s society.
4.4.1
(i) The vote for all women to vote – despite the war finishing 10 years before
this – was not granted until 1928.
(ii) At the beginning of World War Two (WW2), the change for women was still underway as they were called up again to take over the men’s jobs – making bombs, equipment and due to the increasing demands of this, 90% of women who were single and 80% of married women were needed in the workplace. Something that would never of been allowed before.
4.4.2
Fashion also became a change after the war for women as skirts became fashionable and wearing make-up and smoking in public happened for the first time. The changes for some women where short lived as the women belong in the household came back again and the percentage of work for women dropped to back where it started pre-war work.
4.4.3
(i) Girton College in Cambridge was opened in 1869 by Emily Davies as a college just for women. The college allowed women to gain an education in politics. However, with the women’s rights, they couldn’t go onto further education such as University or even jobs. In November 1976, Girton became a mixed college allowing men to attend it and it was the first women’s college to do this. If not for this, women may still not of been equal.
(ii) The first women to be elected in parliament was Countess de Markievicz. She stood for election whilst imprisoned in December 1918. She was successful in being elected but didn’t take her seat in the House of Commons. Nancy, Viscountess Astor was the first women in 1919 to take a seat in the conservative party. She held her seat up until her retirement in 1945.
5. Conclusions