Women's Suffrage Movement

19th Century Women
1. Women and Work
  1. upper class not expected to work
  2. unmarried middle class could still have a profession- expected to leave when married
  3. unmarried working-class women expected to work, when married took up part time work
  4. less pay
    1. not a bread-winner wage
  5. women's trade unions difficult
    1. opposed by men and employers
  6. legislation to 'protect' women
    1. less skilled work
    2. prevented them from working in some industries
2. separate spheres
  1. women = domestic sphere
    1. angel of the house - coventry patmore
  2. men = social sphere
  3. Boundaries of ‘separate spheres’ increasingly breached in education, careers, politics
Women and Politics
1. women's rights
  1. after 1970 women allowed to retain property and income after marriage
  2. divorce permitted
    1. expensive
    2. socially stigmatised
  3. high quality of education increasingly available
    1. better job opportunities
  4. double standards
    1. adultary
    2. contagious diseases act
2. political engagement
  1. long history of unofficial political engagement
    1. campaigning
    2. protesting
    3. rioting
  2. virtual representation
    1. the idea that husbands/fathers represented women with their vote
      1. did not represent women's views
  3. middle class women becoming increasingly prominat
    1. writers/authors
    2. campaigns on various issues
  4. from 1869 women rate payers could stand for office, vote in municipal elections
    1. increasingly important in electioneering
  5. primrose league 1883
  6. women's liberal federation 1887
  7. official politicised roles
    1. the fawcett commission
Campaign for Suffrage
1. 1869 reform act
  1. puts forward women's suffrage- John Stuart Mill
  2. Manchester women's suffrage committee formed
    1. little support from public
      1. separate spheres
      2. virtual representation
        by 1900 1.1 mil women not represented
      3. some opposition thought should focus upon other women's rights
  3. 1897 commons voted in favour of suffrage by a majority of 71
2. women's involvement in politics meant case for exclusion was deminishing
  1. women's wider property owning rights = more women should qualify for the franchise
3. 1897 National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies formed under Millicent Fawcett (NUWSS)
  1. started own newspaper
  2. participated in headline grabbing stunts
    1. several attempts to storm parliament
    2. chained themselves to 10 downing street
    3. intensified both support and opposition
4. 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst formed Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU)
  1. mostly respectable women
  2. attempts to recruit from the working class
  3. often tended to be younger, unmarried women
  4. supported Labour, heckled Liberals
    1. disrupted election meetings
  5. NUWSS campaigned publicly, held rallies and lobbied MPs for support
5. suffrage tactics
  1. Early activism disruptive; interrupting political meetings, attempts to storm Parliament
    1. Activism became more violent after defeat of Suffrage Bills in Parliament
      1. Stonings, arson, defacing artwork or churches, physical violence against people
        Hunger strikes from prisoners to attract attention and sympathy
        cat and mouse acts
6. support
  1. hyde park demonstrations 1908
  2. By early 1910 many MPs were in favour of granting some kind of female suffrage
    1. Cross-party ‘Conciliation Bill’ proposed
      1. WSPU called a halt to militant activities while the Bill was being considered in Parliament
      2. Bill offered vote to c.1m female householders
        did not apply to all suffragettes
        had to be 30 and be a house owner
      3. Passed first reading unopposed, second reading in early July by 109 votes
      4. Government refused to support Bill, so it failed; WSPU recommenced campaign
      5. bill reintroduced 1911
        won vote 255-88 but failed on procedure
        1912 Liberals introduced Franchise Bill
        Asquith claimed women’s suffrage could be added as amendment; speaker refused
        Suffragists abandoned Liberal Party; drifted to support Labour movement
  3. continued campaigns
    1. Campaign intensified after 1911
      1. due to bill rejection
      2. Ministers and their property became subject to attack
  4. campaigns seen as a wider trajectory of women's rights
Suffragism in Parliament
1. Asquith opposed women’s suffrage
2. 1908 H. Stanger introduced Private Members’ Bill
  1. passed second reading by 179 voted
    1. Asquith refused to allow Bill debate time in Commons; Bill failed
  2. After 1909 Liberals were embroiled in Lords reform; uninterested in votes for women
3. political parties and suffragism
  1. conservatives
    1. expected to oppose suffrage; rarely targeted, caused few party divisions
  2. labour
    1. almost universally behind suffrage, but divided on how widespread it should be
  3. liberals
    1. divided; key figures opposed suffrage and blocked attempts to push it through
      1. As government, compelled to resort to ‘illiberal’ acts to counter suffragette activism
    2. Standardised voting in local elections (1907)
    3. Refused to take the lead on women’s suffrage; preferred a Private Members’ Bill
      1. Pushed both militant and non-militant suffrage movements to intensify campaigning
  4. Issue became embroiled with party politics; no party wanted to risk split on issue
4. after 1910 ingredients seemed to be in place for suffrage, but nobody could agree on a recipe
  1. want to give suffrage, but to what extent?
    1. seen as a hand over of power to women
campaigns put on hold in 1914 for the war effort

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