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Roles of Women during WWI
Roles of Women during WWI
Women gaining the vote essay
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Source A shows an example of a suffragette poster protesting for votes for women. The poster illustrates the possibilities of jobs that a women can achieve, yet still not be respected enough to be given the vote. Most of the jobs listed on the poster are jobs that require a successful education such as a “doctor or teacher”; or they require a strong and trustworthy individual like a “mayor”. The reasons that the suffragettes are demanding the vote is because they believe that women are capable of many things that require importance, so they are very deserving of the vote.
Another reason for wanting the vote for women, would relate to how certain men could behave and still have the honour to vote. The poster mentions how a man could be a “drunkard” and still be allowed to vote. The message being voiced here is that men can be a lot less successful than some women and seen to still have the right mind to vote, whereas women can achieve most things but still be perceived to not have the right mind which is very unfair.
This poster could be seen as very biased, because the examples shown are very opposite, and the fact that men can be successful was not mentioned. Overall I think that the main reason the suffragettes demanded the vote was because they felt that women were very capable of most things that created a good mind, and this point was clearly expressed in Source A.
Source B is evidence of one woman who was against female suffrage. Her argument is that “women were and are destined to make voters rather than be voters themselves”, by this she means that the role of women is to produce children, and then influence them on who to vote for. She also states that she thinks that the suffrage campaign is a “shrill cry” of “disco...
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...ng the suffragettes after their a lot more pacifistic approach to the war. This maybe suggesting that if the war hadn’t taken place then Asquith would not have changed his view on the situation, otherwise the suffragettes would have continued acting violently.
There were also many other reasons why women had achieved the vote in 1918. The fact that the Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, was in favour of the female suffrage would have swayed many people’s mind. If the Prime Minister was supporting women, then they had a very important name persuading others to follow in his direction.
In conclusion I would have to disagree with the statement in the question, because women have obviously tried in a variety of ways to make sure they could get the vote. The war was definitely a stepping stone towards the final goal of female suffrage, but it was not the only reason.
The women’s job in that era are meant keep her house clean and feed her children (Doc C). They are also dependent on the city administration to make their lives decent (Doc C). The women’s suffrage movement fought because woman needed to fulfil her traditional responsibilities in the house and to her children, which makes it a must to use the ballot and have the home safe (Doc C). All women needs to have a chance to voice their opinion to help the community strive, and one way to do that is making them able to vote.
The 1918 Representation of the People Act changed the status of women a great deal, firstly it obviously allowed the women that qualified to vote, and this was a great improvement to what they could previously do before this act was passed, however now that women could vote there was a chance for many different acts to be passed that could further advance the rights of women in Britain. One of these acts that was passed from women being able to vote was the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919. This act enabled women to go in to jobs in the legal profession and civil service. This then further showed the equality between men and woman becoming closer and women were slowly but surely achieving their goals and receiving different abilities and privileges as a result of their campaigns. Women's status in society also changed a lot after these two acts as women could now do more in society, for example it would now be a great deal easier for a woman to go in to a shop and purchase something for themselves with nowhere near as much hassle; this co...
This source may not be reliable as it could have been drawn by a biased male. But the source shows some women not campaigning for the vote, because not all women wanted to have the vote like upper-class women , they didn’t care because they had a good life. The men liked some of the women for not wanting the vote so the cartoonist in this source has praised them by making them look smart and elegant, and not dirty and ugly.
In the years after 1870 there were many reasons for the development of the women’s suffrage movement. The main reasons were changes in the law. Some affecting directly affecting women, and some not, but they all added to the momentum of Women’s campaign for the vote.
Women throughout the suffrage act were faced with many challenges that eventually led into the leading roles of women in the world today. Suffrage leaders adopted new arguments to gain new support. Rather than insisting on the justice of women’s suffrage, or emphasizing equal rights, they spoke of the special moral and material instincts women could bring to the table. Because of these women taking leaps and boundaries, they are now a large part of America’s government, and how our country operates.
In the early 20th century, many Americans perceived woman as unskilled and deficient, due to this woman have never gotten the chance to prove how they can positively affect society. Document A, Supports Woman states; “They still love their homes and their children just the same as ever, and are better able to protect themselves and their children because of the ballot”. If woman were given the right to vote it would not only have helped the society by having more opinions, but it would have also helped women protect themselves and their children by voting for things like better education. Supports Woman explains how giving woman the right ...
Men also looked down upon women, treating them as if they were lesser beings. So, women set out to get the vote and be able to change their circumstances.
Before 1920 women did not have the right to vote. They were known as “second class citizens”. Women were to stay home to help and organize the family’s necessities. Having any other higher power was said to be way out of their limitations. Mainly because women weren’t fully exposed to the happenings outside of the home, which led to the male figure believing that it was impossible for women to vote if they didn’t know the facts. Men thought that if women were able to vote that they would reach a power, that they could not take away and they didn’t want that. Men wanted to be head of the household and everything else in between.
Just as the Irish wanted good work and the farmers wanted a good banking system, women wanted equality. Women and women's organizations worked for various rights for different groups of people. They not only worked to gain the right to vote, they also worked for political equality and for social reforms.
Although they were fighting for a worthy cause, many did not agree with these women’s radical views. These conservative thinkers caused a great road-block on the way to enfranchisement. Most of them were men, who were set in their thoughts about women’s roles, who couldn’t understand why a woman would deserve to vote, let alone want to vote. But there were also many women who were not concerned with their fundamental right to vote. Because some women were indifferent in regards to suffrage, they set back those who were working towards the greater good of the nation. However, the suffragettes were able to overcome these obstacles by altering their tactics, while still maintaining their objective.
One argument in favour of women shows pictures of what men could be: A convict, lunatic, owner of white slaves, unfit for service and a drunkard. This portrayed men as being responsible, but they still could vote. Then it shows what women could achieve: Mayor, nurse, mother doctor or teacher or a factory hand, which showed them as responsible but they still couldn't the vote.1 Men's attitude towards women during the First World War was still negative. The ability of women to take on the roles of men meant that increasing numbers of men were vulnerable to conscription.2 The women were told that they couldn't vote because they weren't fighting for their country. They couldn't fight because they weren't allowed to.
Many suffragettes would consider it a great achievement because it caused problems for the government in a militant manner. The suffragettes possibly damaged the campaign for female suffrage because the government vowed not to give in to militancy. Their argument was that if they gave in to the suffragette's violence then
Millicent Fawcett, one of the founders of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, published a poster in July 1913 in the NUWS’s name called ‘what does women’s suffrage mean?’ shown as source C, it was made to promote the message of the suffragettes campaign while encouraging the people to become a part of the movement. It was anticipated that by clearly highlighting and setting out the reasons why women should have the right to vote, people would support and sympathise for the cause. The manifesto includes reasons such as ‘only a small number of women do these violent acts’ - this supports the argument of Marcie Kligman that some of the suffragettes actions put people off the cause, hence the reason why this poster explicitly confirms
However, this vote was not brought about easily. Their contribution at war was fairly important in gaining them the vote because it placed women in a good light before the government. Some historians ,such as Martin Pugh, have counter-arguments however as they believe the war postponed the vote rather than expedited it. The most important reason was changing society as ,due to the platform of war and suffrage campaigns, the role of women changed as their traditional role was trampled by new opportunities in education and drive in politics which allowed men to realise they were worthy of the vote. Another factor which contributed to equality in franchise was the work of suffrage societies- The Women’s Social and Political Union which was made up of militant suffragettes and the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies which consisted of more peaceful suffragists, Universal enfranchisement of women from 1893 also supported Britain’s decisions to include women in the electoral
In “women's rights to the suffrage” by Susan B Anthony women are just like men they should always be equal treated.Woman’s needs rights to vote not just men. Susan B Anthony is trying to persuade us not allowing women to vote is just illegally and woman are human too.