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Women's Right to Vote Due to Their Contribution to the War Effort

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Women's Right to Vote Due to Their Contribution to the War Effort

In August 1914 Britaindeclared war on Germany. Both the suffragettes and suffragists suspended their campaigns. Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, the government ordered the unconditional release of all suffrage prisoners. On August 13, Emmeline Pankhurst called a temporary suspension to militancy and asked her followers to support her in the war effort.

The suffragette movement was now effectively over although some ex- WSPU members formed and joined other groupings that continued to campaign for women enfranchisement, such as the suffragettes of the WSPU, the independent WSPU, the Women's Freedom League, and the United …show more content…

Also the work women did during the war convinced many people that they should have the vote after the war.

As men left jobs to fight overseas, they were replaced by women such as Octavia Wilberforce and Louisa Martindale who worked as doctors treating wounded British soldiers.

Women filled many jobs brought into existence by wartime needs. As a result the number of women employed increased from 3,224,600 in July 1914 to 4,814,600 in January 1918. Nearly 200,00 women were employed in government departments. Half a million became clerical workers in private offices. The greatest increase of women workers was in engineering, which over 700,00 of these women worked in the highly dangerous munitions industry.

Also in 1925 the government realised it had a problem. The old voting system demanded that voters live in the same place for the twelve months before an election. So if there were to be an election during the war, most soldiers would not be able to vote. The government decided to change the law and make sure the 'war heroes' got their vote. Women groups saw their opportunity to include votes for women in the changed law. There were no demonstrations, but there were many meetings between women's leaders and politicians, and a flood of telegrams and letters were eventually sent to MP's.

Women mostly worked for themselves during the war

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