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Women Before Voting Rights

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Women Before Voting Rights

Read the information and complete the questions. Use evidence from the timeline and the campaign leaflet. Remember: women’s experiences differed by class, occupation and personal circumstances.

Britain before equal voting rights

In the nineteenth century, British law and custom gave men and women different rights. Married women’s property was often controlled by their husbands. The Married Women’s Property Acts of 1870 and 1882 changed the law, allowing married women to keep and control property and earnings. Many women worked for wages, although their jobs and pay were often more limited than men’s. Women had campaigned for political rights for decades. In 1897, campaigners formed the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), led by Millicent Garrett Fawcett. They used peaceful methods such as petitions, meetings and writing to MPs. In 1903, Emmeline Pankhurst and others formed the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). Some WSPU members used more militant tactics, including demonstrations and window-breaking. Not all campaigners agreed with these methods. During the First World War (1914–1918), many women took on jobs that had previously been done mostly by men. In 1918, the Representation of the People Act gave the vote to women aged 30 and over who met certain property qualifications, and to all men aged 21 and over. It did not give all women the vote. In 1928, the Equal Franchise Act gave women and men equal voting rights at age 21.

1870 and 1882 Married Women’s Property Acts

1897 NUWSS formed

1903 WSPU formed

1918 Some women gain the vote

1928 Women and men gain equal voting rights

A campaign leaflet

Imagine this short message printed by a peaceful suffrage campaigner around 1910: “Women pay taxes and obey the laws. Yet Parliament makes laws without allowing women to choose its members. We ask for votes for women so that women’s views can be heard when decisions are made.”

1.According to the information, what change did the Married Women’s Property Acts make?

They allowed married women to keep and control property and earnings.
They gave every woman the right to vote.
They required women to work in Parliament.
They made all jobs and pay equal.

2.What does the leaflet give as one reason women should be allowed to vote?

3.Name one peaceful method used by the NUWSS.

4.Which statement best describes the difference between the NUWSS and the WSPU?

The NUWSS used peaceful campaigning; some WSPU members used militant tactics.
The NUWSS campaigned for men’s votes; the WSPU opposed voting rights.
Both groups began in 1928 and used exactly the same methods.
The WSPU campaigned only for property law changes.

5.True or false: The 1918 Act gave all women the vote on the same terms as men.

TrueFalse

6.Use the timeline: how many years after the WSPU formed did some women gain the vote?

7.Why is it more accurate to say that the 1918 Act gave the vote to some women rather than to women generally?

8.The leaflet is a source from a campaigner’s point of view. What is one thing it can tell historians, and one thing it cannot tell them on its own?

9.A newspaper reports that women took on jobs during the First World War. Explain why this fact alone does not prove that women were given the vote because of their war work.