1. Why did women get the vote? Your task – You have to convince the judge that attitudes to women were changing and this helped women get the vote.

2. POINT Attitudes to women were changing and this helped women get the vote. EVIDENCE Attitudes to women in politics were changing. In 1869 the municipal franchise allowed women to vote in local elections. From 1870-1884 women were able to vote on local, town and county councils. ARGUMENT This was important because their involvement in politics showed that it was outdated to argue that women could not be wives and mothers and be involved in politics. Also it acted as stepping stones to gaining the vote in national elections. EVIDENCE Attitudes to women’s education had changed. Boys and girls were entitled to a basic education from 1872. After 1870 some universities allowed women to get degrees. ARGUMENT This was important because it meant that stereotypical attitudes to women as inferior were being over turned and it could no longer be argued that women were not educated enough to cope with the vote. HOWEVER although attitudes to women were changing and making it harder to deny women the vote, it was very slow and their political power remained limited. In 1914 there were 11,000 town councillors and only 24 were women. In light of this, it is unlikely that women would have been granted the vote in 1918 purely as a result of changing attitudes to women.

3. POINT The suffragists were important in helping women get the vote. They were formed in 1897 and led by Millicent Fawcett EVIDENCE(p62)They worked with M.P’s Up till 1910 they worked with the liberals M.P’s that wanted to give women the vote. At election time they helped with their campaigns such as handing out leaflets to win support. After 1910 they helped Labour candidates. ARGUMENT This was important because it helped get M.P’s into parliament who wanted to give women the vote. By 1900 over half MP’s supported female suffrage. Their support helped with the introduction of conciliation bills after 1910 which aimed to give women the vote. These bills took place each year and indicate that it was more a case of when rather than if women should get the vote. EVIDENCE (sheet) They raised awareness and gained publicity. They had 53,000 members with 500 branches by 1913. Mud March 1907 3,000 campaigned in pouring rain. 1910 they presented a petition with 250,000 signatures for female suffrage to the govt. ARGUMENT This was important because it gave publicity to the cause and their large numbers helped disprove the argument that most women did not want the vote. HOWEVER by 1900 the suffragists were losing publicity. (p63) The tactics were easily ignored by the public and press and MP’s had other things to worry about. Therefore the suffragist peaceful pressure was important in gaining respect and political support for the vote but failed to force the government to grant the vote by 1914.

4. POINT The suffragettes did gain publicity for votes for women but violent tactics acted as an obstacle to women getting the vote. They were formed in 1903 b Emmeline Pankhurst. They believed in using ‘ deeds not words’ to get the vote. EVIDENCE(p63)They gained publicity and revitalised the campaign 1903-1910. Window smashing campaign Chained themselves to gates of parliament Heckled politicians Hunger striking when arrested ARGUMENT This was important because these actions got the women noticed, they gained masses of publictiy in the press which had been ignoring the issue of women’s suffrage. More people were aware and talking about the case of votes for women and joined the suffragettes and suffragists making them stronger. EVIDENCE (p13) They gained lots of publicity during the Wild Period 1912-14. Attacks on property. Threw an axe at Asquith the Prime Minister Emily Wilding Davison threw herself in front of the kings horse at the Derby in 1913. Set fires to Leuchars Railway station. ARGUMENT –This was important because these actions achieved their goal of making politicians take notice and the suffragettes were discussed daily in parliament, something not achieved by the suffragists. HOWEVER This actually made it harder for women to get the vote because p65 because the govt could not be seen to give into terrorist actions or other groups could use the same tactics. They actually lost support and their actions reinforced the belives of those who said women couldn’t be trusted with the vote. The 1912 concilation bill was stopped and blamed on suffragette violence. Therefore the suffragettes may have revitalised the cause but by 1914 they had lost public and political support and as such were a barrier to women getting the vote.

5. POINT World War One broke out in 1914, during the war women replaced men in essential industries and worked in munitions, these actions helped women get the vote. EVIDENCE The suffragettes called off their campaign. Women across Britain took part in war effort. 919,000 worked in munitions by 1917. 60% of shell makers were women. Replaced men in transport industries Also worked to support war e.g WRAF ARGUMENT This was important because women’s actions helped Britain fight and win the war. They risked their lives working in munition factories providing the weapons Britiain needed to win the war, therefore it could no longer be argued that women didn’t deserve the vote as they had not fought for their country. HOWEVER the vote was not simply a reward for war work as it was not given to those that had done most of the war work. The vote was given to those over 30 who owned property or were married to property owners. The majority of munition workers were young girls in late teens and early twenties who were not wealthy enough to own property. In France women also completed war work, but they were not rewarded with the vote. The difference between France and Britain was that Britain had had a pre-war suffrage campaign and France had not. This suggests the work done by suffragists and suffragettes before the war was very important in helping women to get the vote. Therefore work done by women in WW1 helped give the government an excuse to give women the vote however the decision had already been made due to the prewar campaigning. The war provided the opportunity rather than the reason. ARGUMENT This was important because women had shown that they were hard working and trustworthy this helped improve their public image after the negative publicity of the suffragette wild period, people now believe that they deserved the vote. ARGUMENT This was important because since the suffragettes were no longer using violence, the government were able to give women the vote without looking as if they were giving in to suffragette violence. EVIDENCE The suffragettes called off their campaign during the war.

6. POINT Changes in other countries helped women get the vote in Britain. EVIDENCE Other countries had given women the vote E.g. New Zealand in the Empire and some states in the USA. ARGUMENT This was important because Britain prided herself on being the ‘mother of democracy’ yet she was lagging behind other countries in the world and her empire. Importantly these countries had not suffered as a result of female suffrage, the expected disastor had not arrived, in fact in some cases they had even benefited.