The Campaign for Female Suffrage: 1918 Enfranchisement and Exam Preparation

1. The Campaign for Female Suffrage February 6th 1918 The Representation of the People Act decreed : All women over 30 who were married to property owners or who owned property themselves were allowed to vote in parliamentary elections. ERH This enfranchised 8 million women

2. Olive Schreiner 1918 “Many women have now the vote and are part of the governing power of their nation – all will have it soon”.

3. The Campaign for Female Suffrage • You will assess • Why did women not get the vote by 1914? • Why did women get the vote in 1918? • Both these questions are potential exam questions. • You will complete one of these questions under exam conditions before the end of June.

4. A bit of background…… In 1850 women were thought of as second class citizens. People believed women were inferior to men – physically and mentally. Women were paid less than men, and tended to do less skilled work. They were excluded from many professions and it was thought that ‘a woman’s place is in the home’. Women were not allowed to vote in general elections. • Women would lose their femininity in politics. • Women weren’t well educated enough to vote. • If women became involved in politics the home would suffer. • Women were too emotional to handle the responsibility of the vote.

5. A bit of background… Conservatives – against women voting, worried they would vote for liberal or labour. Liberals worried if property owning women were given the vote then they would vote conservative. Labour, started in 1900, were in favour of female suffrage but wanted all working class women to get the vote first.

6. From 1850 women gained educational, civil and political equality. Politically 1869 – Municipal Franchise Act gave single women the right to vote in local elections. 1870-1894 – women are allowed to be elected to school boards, poor law guardianship, parish and district councils. 1870 Married Women’s Property Acts meant husbands no longer owned their property. Women were able to sue for desertion without going to the workhouse. Education and Work 1870 Education Act ( 1872 Scotland) assured girls the same basic education as boys. 1876 Medical schools opened their doors to women and in 1878 London university opened all its degrees to women. 1871 Newnham College Cambridge was founded. Women could attend Cambridge. Better education gave women more employment opportunities in civil service, post office and private business. 1860 Nightingale School of Nursing helped make nursing a proper profession. 1888 Match Girls Strike – women won better working conditions.

7. Surely women would get the vote soon? The Vote?

8. Suffragists - National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. Established 1897 by Millicent Fawcett. Methods Peaceful protest. • Petitions to parliament • E.g. 1910 presented petition with 250,000 signatures in favour of female suffrage. • Propaganda • Newspaper ‘The Suffragist’. Leaflets etc. In 1913 spend £45,000 on publicity.

9. Processions • February 1907, 3,000 suffragists campaigners marched in London. Known as the ‘mud march’ due to torrential rain. • 1908 Massive pageant from Embankment to Albert Hall of 13,000 marchers. • Summer 1913 Women’s Pilgrimage. Held meetings over 6 weeks across the country. Finished with a march in Hyde Park on 26th July with 50,000 people. • Worked with politicians • Up to 1910 Suffragists helped pro female suffrage Liberal candidates with their campaigns. • 1910 Suffragists started to support their own candidates against Liberals. • 1912 Suffragists started to support Labour candidates that were pro female suffrage.

11. Large membership • 1909 13,000 members • 1913 100,000 members and 500 branches nationwide. • Maintained support for peaceful respectful methods. Processions gained publicity. • Peaceful methods easy to ignore. By 1905 the press had were virtually ignoring them. • Large membership and propaganda meant they had a wide influence across Britain. Benefits of male membership. • Concentrated on a wide range of issues – not just female suffrage. • Lost essential political support from Liberals from 1910. • S. Holten argues pre war campaigning before the war was important for bringing women’s issues to the fore.

12. What do historians think? Suffragists Sandra Holten Argues pre-war campaigning was vital for women to get the vote. Sir Robert Ensor the propaganda of the suffragists “effect was beyond question”.

13. The Suffragettes – Women’s Social and Political Union - 1903 Founded by Emmeline Pankhurst Motto ‘deeds not words’. • Methods • Believed in using militancy to gain the vote. • Gained publicity through propaganda, leaflets, newspapers, marches and demonstrations. • Series of 6 meetings in 1908 attracted more than 25,000 women to attend. • 1908 Demonstration Hyde Park – £1,000 spent on publicity.

14. 1911 ‘Women’s Coronation Procession’. Joint march with suffragists. Over 40,000 women attended. Procession stretched for 7 miles. • The Star “ it proves that women as well as men can contribute together in the common pursuit of a high ideal”. • 1912 month long pilgrimage from Edinburgh to London attracted 1,000’s of supporters. • Membership • 1909 – Votes for Women Newspaper sold 20,000 copies per week. • 1910 – membership 2,000 – Annual income £33,027. Employed 98 women in London. 34 out of 88 branches were in London. • By 1914 – membership low, number of suffragettes able to campaign effectively was reduced ( Exile or weak from hunger striking.)

15. Militant Tactics • 1905 Christabel Pankhurst arrested for pretending to spit at a police man. • 1908 started stone throwing • 1909 First Scottish militant demonstration takes place in Glasgow and Dundee. • 1909 Imprisoned suffragettes start hunger striking. When government introduces force feeding 150 councils sent petitions to the government protesting about this action. • 1910 18th November ‘Black Friday’ – 150 suffragettes hurt in violence outside parliament. • 1912-14 Wild Period begins – arson attacks, acid on golf courses, letter boxes. Telephone wires cut. David Lloyd George’s house burnt. Emily Wilding Davison, Slasher Mary attacked painting in National Gallery. 1,000 imprisoned by 1914.

16. Brought much needed publicity to the movement. By 1905 the suffragists were being ignored. • During Wild Period issue of female suffrage discussed daily in parliament. • Some politicians claimed they gave women the vote in 1918 to prevent a return to the wild period. • M Mackenzie “prior to 1914 it was the WSPU who revitalised the question of votes for women”. • Force feeding and cat and mouse act – good publicity. • Argued delayed the vote – government could never give in to terrorist tactics. • Morrison criticises their targets. If they had hit docks, or railway ( economic tactics) the government would have taken them far more seriously. • Lost public support. • Pro female suffrage candidates tended to do badly in by elections. • Posters ripped up. • Membership dropped. • Caused divisions in the movement. • Times 1910 ‘demented creatures”.

17. Millicent Fawcett David Lloyd George in 1912.

18. A letter from the Home Counties Union of Women's Liberal Associations commenting on Suffragettes, 1912

20. What do historians think? Suffragettes • C.P Hill • Violent tactics “did more harm than good”. It shocked the public and split the Suffragette movement. • Sir Robert Ensor • Violence and attacks on property were “ profound errors; the exasperated parliament”, “doing less than nothing to help women’s suffrage”. • H.L Peacock • “In general their tactics did little to further their cause”. They annoyed and embarrassed the government whose support they had to win”.

21. What do historians think? Suffragettes • D.Richards and J Hunt • Militancy proved to many at the time “not their fitness but their unfitness for political responsibility”. • Martin Pugh • Evidence suggests politicians, voters and the public turned against the WSPU. Few complaints when police used violence against them. • “There are no grounds for the view that the WSPU shifted public opinion in its favour, rather the reverse”. • Their tactics “failed to make an impact on the government”.

22. What do historians think? Suffragettes • M Mackenzie • Prior to 1914 it was the WSPU who revitalised the question of votes for women.” Sue Cossan argues the importance of the suffragettes is shown in that “there had been no women’s suffrage movement before the war in France and there was thus no pressure on the government”.

23. What was the government doing? 1905 – Parliament spent hours discussing the issue of car tail lights so they wouldn’t discuss the next issue on the agenda – votes for women. 1908 Asquith became P.M. He was against women getting the vote and in 1909 he refused even to meet with suffrage campaigners.

24. 1867 – John Stuart Mills proposed bill to give women the vote – laughed out of parliament. 71 votes for 123 against – but most abstained. These bills were proposed more and more yet never passed. From then on these bills were proposed nearly every year. • Conciliation Bills 1910 onwards. • To give 1 million women the vote – a compromise

25. 1910 1st conciliation bill 300 MP’s voted for it on 1st reading Passed 2nd reading by 100 votes. Asquith stopped the bill by calling a general election. 1911 2nd Conciliation bill Passed 1st reading 2nd reading failed to get a majority. Presented again in 1912 but ruled out.

26. 1913 Bill presented to parliament again Passed 1st reading Failed 2nd reading by 47 votes. Restricted Suffragette activity in wild period. E.g. banned hall owners from renting them to suffragettes. • Government was busy with other issues. • Naval race with Germany in the lead up to W.W.I • Miners and Dockers strike • From 1910 Liberals depended on support from Irish nationalists. They would lose this support if they debated women instead of Ireland.

27. Government Attitudes and Actions. Actions of the suffragists. Actions of the Suffragettes. Why did women not have the vote by 1914? Attitude of public and press. Splits in the suffrage movement. To answer this essay question you need to explain how the factors above made it hard for women to get the vote. E.g. What were the splits in the movement AND how did this make it hard for women to get the vote.

28. Government Attitudes and Actions. Actions of the suffragists. Actions of the Suffragettes. Why did women not have the vote by 1914? Attitude of public and press. Splits in the suffrage movement. • Task 1 • Keyring revision note will also help. • Wider reading