What Was The Impact Of Women In 1914

For the longest time, women’s role in society was very narrow and set in stone. Women weren’t given the chance to decide life for their own, and there was a very sharp distinction of gender roles. Women were viewed as inferior, weak, and dependant. They were expected to be responsible for the family and maintainance of the house. But as the 19th century began, so did a drastic change in society. Women started voicing their opinions and seeking change. Trying to break away from this ideology called “cult of domesticity” was a lengthy, burdensome, and demanding struggle.

3. Urban industrialism dislocated women’s lives no less than men’s. Like men, women sought political change and organized to promote issues central to their lives, campaigning for temperance and woman suffrage., Susan B. Anthony, launched the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869, demanding the vote for women suffrage, though not yet generally supported, was no longer considered a crackpot idea. Thanks to the WCTU’s support of the “home protection” ballot, suffrage had become accepted as a means to an end even when it was not embraced as a woman’s natural right.

Before 1918, women were considered to be very much within their own sphere of influence separate from men. Throughout the 19th century women had slowly been gaining voting privileges, but only in areas considered to be within their spheres such as the vote for school boards, the vote for poor law boards and the vote for county councils. Traditionally many historians have argued that the main reason for the enfranchisement of women in 1918 was their work during world war one. This view is being disputed on multiple levels; some argue that the war itself called for a rearrangement of the whole electoral system. Alternatively other historians argue that the work of the women's suffrage workers such as the suffragist's and the suffragettes,

Women’s suffrage groups existed before the Great War but they received little attention. In the beginning, women did not have any property rights.

World War I is one of the most tragic and glorious war’s there has been, with the exception of World War II. World War I was the first time when various nations joined together to defeat another set of nations, it symbolizes the beginning of international relations, communication and unity between countries. Kimberly Jensen’s book, Mobilizing Minerva: American Women in the First World War, illustrates the challenges women had to do face to help win the war for the Allies and how suffrage was not only at home.

It was in 1905 when the first, most publicly known violent act undertaken by the Suffragettes came about. Christabel Pankhurst and her second in command, Annie Kenney were arrested after interrupting a large political meeting taking place in Manchester. When the two refused to pay fines, they were then imprisoned, which Christable used the publicity of her trial greatly to her advantage, gaining both support and sympathy. When raids on Parliament took place in 1906, then when another Women's Suffrage Bill was blocked and ignored, further raids occurred in 1908, including the heckling of MP's and the chaining of Suffragettes to railings, this was the pivotal point when people began to lose respect for them.

The lack of success of the movements for women’s suffrage in achieving their aims by 1918 cannot be held accountable to solely one reason due to the abundance of causes for this. Voting, however, was not the only area where women were subjected to inequitable treatment: in1850 women were regarded as second class citizens. It was common belief that their brain was smaller than their male peers and they were therefore provided with very little or no form of education which, consequentially, meant that jobs for women were unskilled and low paid. Many professions would not employ a female as it was considered that a woman’s place was in the home. Politics was an additional area where women were uninvolved. Political parties (except

World War I also provided women with the means to finally achieve suffrage. Groups such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association, led by Carrie Chapman Catt, enthusiastically joined the war effort, thereby intertwining patriotism and women’s rights. After the House of Representatives passed the women’s suffrage amendment in January 1918, President Wilson told the nation, “We have made partners of the women in this war. Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?” (James and Wells, 67-68). True political equality did not result from the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment—very few female candidates were elected in the 1920s—but, in the words of Allen, “the winning of the suffrage had its effect. It consolidated woman’s position as man’s equal” (96).

Manifesto Propaganda Source 1: This primary source is a manifesto with propaganda properties enticing support for the Woman Suffrage movement. This source was produced by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) in 1897 and is directed at the general public of the time, aiming to increase female campaigners and obtain male support. Through this source the NUWSS outlines the fourteen reasons why they are campaigning for the women’s right to vote and encourages a peaceful protest towards gender inequality. The perspective of the manifesto is from Millicent Fawcett, one of the founding leaders of the NUWSS and provides an insight to the views of the members of this political organisation who believed peaceful and constitutional

Women's actual presence in city streets definitively questioned outdated ideas of femininity and consequent limitations on women's behavior. The significant parades, organized between 1910 and 1913, revealed women's shared deployment while visually representing woman suffragists’, which challenged their suggested social roles (Borada, 2002). The performance of suffrage parades became an act of public celebration, an illustration of social protest, and an exhibition of women's ability to partake in political societies. Subsequently, in women's lengthy battle for the right to vote, new political strategies and, more accurately, an approach of strategic opposition were created within the movements (Borada, 2002).

In 1903, Emmeline created a women’s social and political union(WSPU) that helped to inspire individuals in fighting for women’s rights. Their slogan “deeds not words” and name of this union was designed in order to emphasize it’s democracy (“The Women’s Social and Political Union”). This WSPU was composed of women from all different races, social classes and ethnicities from working to royal rank females. These women were willing to take part in drastic actions to fight for the fair rights they believed in. These members of this union worked together by disrupting parliament speeches as well as resorting to militant tactics to further their cause. Women from the WSPU resisted the government which accepted them to have courage and bravery as they were working against their body of nation. These women demanded political equal rights and equal responsibilities with men in society towards the government. To increase people’s awareness, they held street meetings and distributed suffrage literature (Rume, 1). These awareness movements, helped make the WSPU became the first and largest militant group that helped challenge the government. The WSPU tactics and ideas on the suffrage movement helped challenge women’s social inequality which opened eyes for females to see how unfair the life they were living (Steven 194-198).

In this article, Trueman argues that the Suffragettes and the Suffragists complemented each other, that the women’s role in the war effort had no effect on the success of the1918 Representation of People Act and that this act was an injustice to the fight of the Suffraggettes and Suffragists.

Many women longed for a more active role in the war effort. Suffrage leaders criticized the government for not involving women more. So, when a shortage of shells was revealed in the spring of 1915, certain government ministers concurred. Munitions Minister Lloyd George encouraged the leader of the British suffrage movement, Emmeline Pankhurst, to organize a massive demonstration and march on the theme 'Women's Right to Serve' (Grayzell, 1999).

The Women’s Social and Political Union was the largest and most aggressive group in Great Britain. Women believed that they should be able to play an active role in politics and should be seen as equal to

Women’s reactions to the war were divided among themselves. Though there were women championing the cause of WWI, there were others who opposed to the idea of a war. Right up to the outbreak of World War I, feminists on both sides pledged themselves to peace, in international women's solidarity. Within months of the war's outbreak, however, all the major feminist groups of the belligerents had given a new pledge - to “support their respective governments.” Campaigners for women's suffrage quickly became avid patriots and organizers of women in support of the war effort. National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), a leader in women’s right in Britain, championed the cause of WWI; through their collective efforts, NUWSS pressed for political