During the nineteenth century women were not equal to men in a social or political setting.

Women
were viewed as being in charge of the home and the children where men were responsible for work
and politics. Women were viewed as too ‘delicate’ to vote, however many changes developed in the
late nineteenth and early twentieth century to change this. The main reason women were granted the
vote in 1918 was arguably due to the part they played during World War One. This helped women get
the vote because it showed MP’s they were willing to do their part to help Britain and therefore
capable of voting. Other factors also contributed to the granting of universal suffrage including the
work of the suffragist and suffragette groups, influence of other countries making change and new
responsibilities for women.

The most important reason women were enfranchised was due to their war work. Women's war work
was important to Britain’s ability to fight and win and women stepped into the gaps when around
three million men went to fight. Women worked in a variety of jobs e.g. as conductors on trams, as
typists and secretaries and 20,000 women worked in government departments. This helped women
get the vote as it proved the public and politicians they were capable of taking on a working role as
well as running a household. Women also worked in munitions factories. Over 810,000 women
worked in munitions, 30,000 in Scotland alone. Explosions were commonplace and TNT poisoning
caused women to be nicknamed ‘canaries.’ It is believed around 400 women died form TNT poisoning
during WWI. This also helped women gain the vote because it showed MP’s that they were willing to
do dangerous jobs to help defend the country and politicians saw this as women taking a positive role
in society. The work of women was an important step in changing the opinion of MP’s towards
women as they put up billboards all over the country with ‘The Nation thanks the women.’ However,
The war was merely a ‘catalyst’ which served to change the views of politicians who still opposed
women’s suffrage e.g. it would be easier for MPs to give the vote to ‘heroines’ in 1918 than ‘terrorist
Suffragettes’ in 1914. Therefore upon evaluation it can be argued that war work was a very important
factor in helping women gain the vote in 1918 because this patriotic attitude of the women impressed
the public, politicians and the press who were now praised for their patriotic efforts. However, it can
also be argued that the campaigns of the suffragettes were also important in helping universal
suffrage because their protests drew attention to the cause.

The suffragette campaigns were a contributing factor in the vote being granted to women in 1918.
Some of the methods they used to raise awareness included smashing windows, pouring acid in
letterboxes, arson attacks and sending letter bombs to MP’s. This helped women get the vote in 1918
because the Suffragettes succeeded in their aim of publicity; they regularly made national headlines,
were discussed often in parliament. In 1909, Suffragette Marion Dunlop started a hunger strike
campaign in prison designed to embarrass the government. Hunger strikers were violently force fed
by doctors, it gained massive publicity for the cause of women’ suffrage. This also helped women win
the vote as the suffragettes went to great lengths to gain support and admiration from some people
across the country who believed the government should give women the vote in order to end the
disruptive militant campaign. Nevertheless, Historians argue that the Suffragettes also undid some of
the progress that the Suffragists made between 1897 and 1903 and actually caused votes for women
to regress due to their bad behaviour. Therefore, upon evaluation it can be argued that the suffragette
campaigns were a factor of moderate importance in gaining the vote for women because it forced the
government to take action, for example the Cat and Mouse Act was passed in 1913 to let hunger-
striking women out of jail temporarily until their health recovered. However, the campaigns of the
suffragists, which came first, also won support of the public and some MP’s for the vote.

The suffragists, or NUWSS, also campaigned to grant women the vote and their work prior to World
War One also contributed to success in 1918. The suffragists believed in moderate, peaceful tactics or
‘peaceful persuasion to win the vote for middle class women. They campaigned using meetings,
pamphlets, petitions and parliamentary private members bills to give women the vote, which were
introduced by sympathetic backbench MPs. This helped women get the vote in 1918 because they
impressed many people, male and female, including politicians, and showed that they were intelligent,
well organised and mature capable of organising a successful nationwide campaign. However, many
historians have claimed that the suffragist campaign was tedious and slow moving and was too easily
ignored by anti-suffrage politicians like Prime Minister Asquith and the suffragists were never able to
achieve the publicity and impact of the Suffragettes. Therefore, upon evaluation it can be argued the
suffragist campaigns were also of moderate importance in helping women get the vote because
membership was around 53,000 by 1914 and they reached agreements of mutual support with some
male Trade Unions and the new Labour Party which showed their appeal to some MP’s. However, pre-
war changes such as better education and greater access to white-collar and the increased status of
women in society must also be considered when evaluating why women were granted the vote.

Towards the end of the 19 th century things had been improving for women slightly in terms of the law
& their opportunities. In 1872 universal primary education became compulsory for boys and girls and
became free in 1890 so there was no longer a good reason not to educate girls. University became
more accessible for women with many universities allowing women through their doors for the first
time to study degrees and even female colleges, i.e. Girton College Cambridge. This helped women gain
the vote in 1918 because it showed women deserved the vote and proved that there was nothing to
fear by giving women the vote – they were reversing the view that women were too stupid,
irresponsible and immature for politics. However, even though women were making some progress
they were still expected to leave their jobs when they were married (the marriage bar), many
universities still would not admit women and the number of women serving on local councils was
very small – 24 out of 11,140 local councillors. Upon evaluation, it can be argued that pre-war changes
were somewhat important in changing the attitude towards women that eventually helped them get
the vote in 1918 because white collar jobs’ involving typing and clerical work in insurance offices and
banks opened up and created better paid and higher status career opportunities alongside other
traditional female professions like nursing and teaching. On the other hand, war work was more
important because the suffragettes and suffragists were making little progress towards the vote
before the war and could not really claim a lot of the credit for women wanting ‘to do their bit’ for the
war effort after 1914.

Foreign influence of democracy also impacted the government decision to grant women the vote in
1918. Britain’s empire included around ¼ of the world – with colonies such as Australia, New
Zealand, Canada. However, more democratic nations around the world had granted women’s suffrage
much earlier e.g. New Zealand in 1893, Finland 1872 and Norway in 1907, which had been very
successful. This helped women get the vote in 1918 because the fact that women had been
enfranchised abroad, particularly in colonies like New Zealand, may have added pressure to
politicians. However it was likely that between 1914-18 British politicians were far more concerned
with the war effort on the Western Front. Therefore, upon evaluation, it can be said foreign influence
was a factor of low importance in helping women gain the vote in 1918 because there exists no
evidence to say that foreign influence played any part in the government’s decision to extend the
franchise in 1918 and no evidence to say it was even discussed by MPs in parliament. It can be argued
that war work was a more important factor because it can be said women were given a reward of
universal suffrage for helping in the war effort, as Arthur Marwick suggests.

In conclusion, there were many important factors, which contributed to women being granted the
vote in 1918. On the other hand the campaigns of the suffragettes drew a great deal of public
awareness to the camping and called the public to feel sympathetic towards women going to extreme
lengths to gain the vote. Also, the suffragist campaigns also contributed to success in 1918 because it
gained the support of many MP are prior to war. Similarly, changing attitudes to women also
contributed to a shift in attitude to women prior to 1914 as better access to education and jobs proved
them to be intelligent and capable of voting. On the one hand foreign influence could also be argued as
a factor because other countries such as New Zeeland granted universal suffrage to great success and
Britain did not want to fall behind democratically with other countries in the empire. Arguably, the
most important factor was women’s war work because women proved themselves to be responsible
and capable of doing the jobs of men. Furthermore, the patriotic attitude of the women impressed the
public, politicians and the press who were now praised for their patriotic efforts.