The Suffragettes

During the nineteenth century, some women had started to demand the right to vote in elections, and in 1918 the government finally gave in and let them have the rights. Now some people may argue that it was the rioting and campaigning of the Suffragettes that made the government give women the rights to vote, however the real reason was the hard work women had shown they were capable of during World War One.
In 1906, the Daily Mail named the women who fought to try and get the vote for women, ‘The Suffragettes’ and they stuck with it. The main thing the Suffragettes did to make the government give in was violence. They started off by having marches through London which fascinated the public. But the following year, they started throwing stones,
When women were arrested and put in prison, they decided to starve themselves unless the government treated them as political prisoners. This new tactic started off with a lady called Marion Wallace Dunlop but was then something every single women did when she was put in prison. This tactic was a success for women because after being in prison for about three days, she would be released. During the summer, over thirty women were released. This meant that the Suffragettes could carry rioting and campaigning once they were released. One of the reasons why the government allowed women to be released was because they didn’t want women to die; they knew that as soon as women were out of prison, she would eat as much as she could to start rioting again. Some people may say that this is why women got the right to vote. If the government didn’t release women after a few days they would die. A women’s job was to stay at home, cook and look after the children. If a woman died, there wouldn’t be anyone to do this for the family. The home Secretary introduced force feeding because he thought “to let a women starve would not only be inhuman but, in the event of death would lead to a charge of manslaughter”. However, force feeding did not last long because the way it was done could lead to the women having food in her lungs which would lead to death. This could also be argued that this is why the
Women had many jobs to do such as nursing, working in factories, sewing bandages, sending war bonds, spying and making weapons. All these jobs were seen to be jobs that only men could do because women were only meant to work at home. This also made the government see that women were able to things that only men were meant to be able to do. In 1916 Mr Asquith, the Prime Minister, said “It is true that women cannot fight in the sense of going out with a rifle and so forth, but they have aided in the most effective way the war. Have not women a special claim to be heard on the many questions which will arise affecting their interests? I cannot deny them that claim”. This is how the women got the rights to vote. They showed that they can do what men can do their and abilities. The government was able to see for the first time that women are highly skilled and can do what men can