Do you agree that women’s work during the First World War was more important in gaining them the vote then their actions as Suffragettes before the war?
Before the 1900’s women struggled to gain the vote or have better job opportunities and education. Women where considered to be incompetent and inferior to men, and that they should stay at home to cook, clean and care for the children. Many women wanted to change this perception of what a woman should do, and so started suffrage groups to have equal rights to men and their ultimate goal was women to get the vote. But it wasn’t until 1918 women over 30 who were householders or wife of a householder got the right to vote, and then in 1928 all women over 21 were given the vote which was equal to men. There were two important reasons why women got the vote; the actions in the suffrage movement and war work during world war one.
The Suffragettes, founded by Emmeline Pankhurst, had more active tactics, then other suffrage groups, such as the Suffragist, who campaigned peacefully with letters and speeches. The Suffragettes got Parliament’s attention by their violent strategies such as interrupted politicians, chaining themselves to railings, attacking policemen, broking windows, setting fire to buildings and throwing bombs. They also went on hunger strike when they were sent to prison. These outrageous ways, showed how serious the Suffragettes were in gaining the vote. This is demonstrated by the Cat and Mouse Act (1913), where they would protest in prison by starving themselves and being temporally realised to improve health. They would be returned back to prison for the rest of their sentence. This would be repeated several times. The positive points of the suffragette’s actions were that they raised people’s attention about women’s rights and equal voting. It is mainly thought that women gained the vote because of the war, however politicians would not have wanted to face a return to Suffragette violence...