By Kendrick Fordjour 9m2
Many women suffrage campaigners knew that the fight for women would be a tough fight one of which that would demand a lot of hard work and determination in order to achieve it. However as many historians may agree the fight for women’s suffrage took a long time longer than how the women suffrage campaigners expected it to be. The question to be asked is why did it take so long for women to gain suffrage? There is no doubt that certain factors, the First World War being one of them affected the time taken for women to gain suffrage.
The two suffrage campaigns tried hard to achieve suffrage for women as quickly as possible in order to enjoy the privilege as they live however it is quite arguable that they were one of the reasons why it took so long for women to gain suffrage. The two campaigns had their mind set on one goal yet had different methods of achieving it. The suffragettes used a series of militant methods as a way of intimidating the government into giving them what they want, yet these methods of militancy provided a different result to what was needed for them to gain suffrage they were despised by many MP’s as well as the public of which they need to gain support from. This hate brought the government to deny women of the right to vote taking longer them to achieve it.
The suffragists who tried more peaceful methods to achieve women’s suffrage lacked broad appeal they were quite consistent and organised in their ways of achieving women’s suffrage which brought the general public to liking to them yet not enough to support the cause. This added on to the lack of broad appeal, they used the same methods over and over again which drove people away knowing that they would not do anything special which caused the government to deny them the right to vote.
Another factor of which affected the time taken for women to vote was the governing of the country at the time. Herbert Asquith who was prime minister from 1908-1916 hated the idea of women having suffrage and was not ready to give in to both suffrage campaigns as he felt it would affect his role as Prime Minister, as well as encouraging other groups to intimidate and impede the government into getting what they want. By 1916 when Lloyd George was Prime Minister at the time did women receive the vote, as he was more sympathetic for the cause.
Although there are many other factors which affected the procedure of women winning the vote it is fair to say that the First World War is one huge factor of which affected how long it would take women to win the vote. This helped women to gain the vote as it gave them a chance to show to people of the nation that they were mature enough and able to vote such as men, being able to do the jobs men can do meant that they could have the right to vote just as men. The suffrage campaigns worked hard to recruit members to help the nation which showed their determination and their good intentions for the nation. By 1917 its was surveyed that 68% of women had changed jobs since the war began, 16% had moved out of domestic service, 22% that were unemployed in 1914 now had work and 23% had changed factories (from one factory to another). It also made it take longer for them to gain suffrage as the war took place over a period of four years without it occurring it is arguable that women may have won the vote before.
Women's contribution to the war effort during the First World War against Germany was a major factor in women gaining the right to vote in 1918, but it was not necessarily the main reason. Other factors such as the women's suffrage campaigns and the need to reform the electoral system as well as International trend are just as likely causes that affected the decision to give women the vote. But none of these reasons alone caused women to gain the right to vote in 1918, some may be more important than others but it is important to see the campaign for women's suffrage as a build up of pressure over a long time rather than one single event, this is why they are all important factors that made it possible for women to gain suffrage.
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