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Higher History Women Essay Example

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Higher History Women Essay Example
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"Changing attitudes in Britain Society towards women was the major reason why some women received the vote in 1918". How accurate is this view?
During the 1900s, many women were beginning to stand up for themselves and no longer wanted to be inferior to men. Prior to 1918, women were disrespected and under - valued in society. There was a change in attitudes towards women as the image of the "New Women" began to arise. They were becoming involved in various different jobs, having the ability to be better educated and get involved in politics. However, this view that the "New Women" was the only factor that contributed to women getting the vote is untrue. Women began their own campaigns in order to get the vote. This included the Suffragists and the Suffragettes as both organisations were tired of being ignored and seen as "undeserving"of the vote. Furthermore, another addition to the factors is the "Reward Theory". Women during World War 1 became greatly involved in helping Britain in the war (e.g taking up jobs which were dangerous and only men would have normally done them). Therefore, the views upon women had changed and had a great impact on the reason women got the vote, but this is not the only factor that aided their achievement.
Due to the break-down of the "separate spheres" during the 1900s, women were able to become more ambitious and better themselves. Before hand, women were not allowed to earn their own wages and most were not allowed to work. However, more women became employees of "white collar" jobs (e.g clerical or computing assistants in offices). Therefore, these new jobs allowed women to gain a sense of responsibility and many ambitions. This also led on to countless women wanting to improve their opportunities in society and in order to do so, they saught the extention of the franchise. In additon to this, education became compulsary for everyone at Primary school, which gave men, aswell as women a basic level of

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