Women and the vote

One obvious area of change is that before the war women were not allowed to vote and at the end of it most of them were. In 1832 middle-class men had been given the vote and this was followed in 1867 by the vote for working-class men who lived in the towns and cities. In 1884 working-class men who lived in the countryside were also given the vote. All had to be at least 21 years of age.

Men were afraid to give women the vote. Since women were at least half the population it would mean a tremendous change in the political system. Many men believed that women took no interest in politics and wold not be able to use their vote intelligently.

In 1897 the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies was founded to campaign peacefully for the right of women to vote. The right to vote is called the suffrage. Such women were called suffragists. But their lack of militancy and their cautious, moderate attitude led to the creation in 1903 of the Women's Social and Political Union by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters, Christabel and Sylvia. Their motto was 'Deeds not Words'.

These suffragettes took a more forceful line and many soon found themselves in prison as a result of 'disturbing the peace'; chaining themselves to the railings of Buckingham Palace, and setting fire to buildings were among the tactics they used to gain publicity. Some went on hunger strike in prison. To make sure that no suffragette died as a martyr in prison, the authorities fed them by force. One suffragette later described what it was like to be force fed:

"... My jaws were fastened wide apart, far more than they could naturally. Then he put down my throat a tube which seemed to me much too wide and was something like four feet [1.2 metres] in length. The irritation of the tube was excessive. I choked the moment it touched my throat until it had got down. Then the food was poured in quickly; it made me sick a few seconds after it was down ... I was sick over the doctor and the wardresses ... I had been sick over my hair ... all over the wall near my bed, and my clothes seemed saturated with it."

Neil Demarco: Britain and the Great War; Oxford University Press, 1992/2000, page 39