higher history suffragettes essay

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Beyond 1920: the legacies of woman suffrage.

Grand Rapids Americanization Society, c. 1924, from the collections of the National Museum of American History.

Courtesy of the Virginia State University Special Collections and Archives. Used with permission.

Part of a series of articles titled The 19th Amendment and Women's Access to the Vote Across America .

Previous: Commemorating Suffrage: Historic Sites and Women’s Right to Vote

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Get help with nationals, higher and advanced higher history, why did women get the vote.

This page analyses the reasons that women finally gained the vote, as well as examining why they did not have the vote in the first place.

You can download a podcast about this topic through  Spotify , iTunes or Podomatic .

* Women and the vote – background

* Changing social attitudes

* Pressure groups – The Suffragists

* Pressure groups – The Suffragettes

* World War One

*  Influence of other countries

*  Male political progress

* Political advantage

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Higher History women and the vote full essay

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TO WHAT EXTENT WAS FACTOR X THE MAIN REASON SOME WOMEN GOT THE VOTE BY 1918? It may be argued that factor x was the main reason women were given the vote by 1918, however/this is not/is the case. In Victorian Britain women were considered to be second class citizens with less rights than men, women could have respectable jobs that were powerful such as nurse, teacher, mayor and doctor and still not have the vote while men could be criminals yet have the vote. Furthermore, it was believed that if women were involved in politics, it would neglect their responsibilities at gone. Although factor x was important in getting women the vote there were other contributing factors such as the suffragists, suffragettes, changes to social attitudes and examples of other countries. Overall factor x was/was not the most important factor in women gaining the vote, factor y was in fact the most important reason. Firstly, changing attitudes was not the main reason for some women gaining the vote by 1918, however it did help contribute. The 1880 education act ordered all girls of 5-10 years had to attend school, in addition, the 1902 education act caused an explosion in girls grammar schools, in 1904 England there were 99 secondary girl schools and by 1914 it had...

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Alternative transcript:.

risen to 349. This helped women to get the vote as it took women a step closer to equality and improved/developed their education and understanding of the world around them. This further helped prove that women due to education should be taken more seriously in voting. However changing attitudes may not be seen as an effective factor as girls in education and school were taught and focused on skills like cookery, needlework, and childcare, this shows they were not being taught skills that would prove them worthy of the vote. This strongly suggests that changing attitudes to women was a contributing factor to why some women won the vote by 1918 but was not the main reason. Secondly, suffragist campaign was not the main reason some women claimed the vote by 1918, but was a contributing factor. The suffragists legal and peaceful approach earned the respect of many MPs. This can be seen through parliamentary bills about giving women the vote was regularly introduced by sympathetic MPs before 1914. This helped women get the vote as the NUWSS were successful in winning over the support and respect from many important MPs and were credited for turning opinions in parliament towards woman suffrage. In addition, suffragists believed in moderate, peaceful tactics better known as peaceful persuasion such as organised petitions, distributed pamphlets, and published newspapers to convinced politicians to support their cause and put their message across. This helped woman get the vote because the suffragists impressed many British people including thousands of men and showed that they were intelligent, capable, and trustworthy women capable of organising a successful nationwide and in turn worthy of the vote. However, it may be argued that the suffragist campaign was not a successful factor for some women claiming the vote by 1918 as the campaign was tedious and slow moving, easily ignored by politicians and the suffragists were never able to achieve the publicity the suffragettes managed to claim. This emphasises that the suffragists were a contributing factor to some women winning the vote by 1918 but not the main reason. Thirdly, suffragette campaign was the most important reason to why some women got the vote by 1918. The suffragettes were prepared to break the law to support and promote their cause, they used direct action like smashing windows of important buildings (10 downing street) and pouring acid into letter boxes, soon turned arson attempting to burn down buildings such as Leuchars railway station. This helped women winning the vote as the suffragettes succeeded in their aim of publicity whilst the public did not approve of law breaking, they grew respect of their bravery therefore recognised the seriousness of the cause keeping the movement in the public eye. However, suffragettes may be deemed less effective as many historians have claimed that the suffragettes held back progress for women because they reinforced the idea that women were irrational, irresponsible, immature, and unable to cope with responsibility, this increased violence and pushed people away from suffragettes making them less effective. In addition, the suffragette campaign can be seen effective as they started hunger strikes in prisons, the government force fed the women in a painful and brutal way, this forced the government to pass the cat and mouse act of 1913. This helped some women get the vote by 1918 as it was set up to embarrass the government, force- feeding in prisons gained a lot of sympathy from the British public, many felt sorry for them and therefore recognised the seriousness of their cause which furthermore increased publicity which brought them closer to the vote. This strongly suggests that the suffragette campaign was the main reason for some women gaining the vote by 1918. Fourthly, examples of other countries were not the main reason for women gaining the vote by 1918 however contributed to bringing women closer to the vote. During the 19th century Britain saw itself as the cradle of democracy and one of the most politically advanced societies in the world: Britain empire included around 1/3 of the world - colonies such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand. This helped women get the vote because as the most developed nation in the world and a great power it was embarrassing for Britain that other countries appeared to be overtaking Britain in terms of democracy, this made them give women the vote. In addition, more democratic nations around the world had declared women suffrage much earlier on. New Zealand granted women's suffrage in 1893, Australia in 1902 and Norway in 1907. This helped women to get the vote because the fact that women had been enfranchised abroad particularly in colonies like New Zealand may have added pressure to politicians and given hope and renewed enthusiasm to the suffrage. However, examples of other countries can be seen as less effective as there is no evidence to say that forging influence played any part in the government's decision to extend the franchise in 1918 and no evidence to say it was even discussed by MPs in parliament. This highlights that example of other countries was not the most important factor in some women winning the vote by 1918 however was a contributing factor. Lastly, women war work was not the main reason for women gaining the vote by 1918, however contributed to bringing women closer to the vote. Women's war work was important to Britain's ability to fight and win and women stepped into the gaps where around 3 million men went to fight. This helped women get the vote because work that women did was of major national importance and everyone in Britain was thankful to the nation's women for the role, they played in winning the war, it was then believed Britain couldn't have won it without the women. In addition, Women worked as conductors on trams & trains, 20,000 women worked in government departments and there were 'The Nation thanks the women' billboards across the country. This helped women get the vote because this could be considered evidence that women were given the vote at the end of the war as a reward and thank you for their efforts.. However, it seemed like a 'strange' reward as women given the vote were 30+ whereas most women who war work were in their 20s so not actually rewarded with the vote. In summary all the factors played a part in some women getting the vote by 1918, although the Suffragettes were the most important. Whilst the Suffragists did let people become aware of their cause, that was all they did and they were too easily ignored. The Suffragettes, on the other hand, had violent tactics that forced the government to act. This clearly makes the Suffragists less important. Women's war work was also an important factor, although many women lost their jobs at the end of the war and those who had worked were not rewarded with the vote. This resulted in no further progress to political equality until 1928. This makes women's war work less important than the Suffragettes. The Suffragettes actions had an immediate response from the public which women's war work did not. Although the public was grateful they did not get more than a thank you. In addition, social change was also important to an extent as it showed that women were gaining trust. However there was little response from the government because they only made minor changes to women's rights in the 19th and 20th centuries. Therefore the Suffragettes must be considered the most important because they made real change, and not just gradual change, due to the violent nature of their tactics and not factor x.

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Women’s Suffrage

By: History.com Editors

Updated: May 2, 2024 | Original: October 29, 2009

The women’s suffrage movement was a decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. It took activists and reformers nearly 100 years to win that right, and the campaign was not easy: Disagreements over strategy threatened to cripple the movement more than once. But on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enfranchising all American women and declaring for the first time that they, like men, deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

Women’s Rights Movement Begins

The campaign for women’s suffrage began in earnest in the decades before the Civil War . During the 1820s and '30s, most states had extended the franchise to all white men, regardless of how much money or property they had.

At the same time, all sorts of reform groups were proliferating across the United States— temperance leagues , religious movements, moral-reform societies, anti- slavery organizations—and in many of these, women played a prominent role.

Meanwhile, many American women were beginning to chafe against what historians have called the “Cult of True Womanhood”: that is, the idea that the only “true” woman was a pious, submissive wife and mother concerned exclusively with home and family.

Put together, all of these contributed to a new way of thinking about what it meant to be a woman and a citizen of the United States.

Seneca Falls Convention

In 1848, a group of abolitionist activists—mostly women, but some men—gathered in Seneca Falls, New York to discuss the problem of women’s rights. They were invited there by the reformers Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott .

Most of the delegates to the Seneca Falls Convention agreed: American women were autonomous individuals who deserved their own political identities.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident,” proclaimed the Declaration of Sentiments that the delegates produced, “that all men and women are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

What this meant, among other things, was that they believed women should have the right to vote.

Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote

Susan B. Anthony, 1820‑1906 Perhaps the most well‑known women’s rights activist in history, Susan B. Anthony was born on February 15, 1820, to a Quaker family in Massachusetts. Anthony was raised to be independent and outspoken: Her parents, like many Quakers, believed that men and women should study, live and work as equals and should […]

Early Women’s Rights Activists Wanted Much More than Suffrage

Voting wasn't their only goal, or even their main one. They battled racism, economic oppression and sexual violence—along with the law that made married women little more than property of their husbands.

5 Black Suffragists Who Fought for the 19th Amendment—And Much More

Obtaining the vote was just one item on a long civil rights agenda.

Civil Rights and Women's Rights During the Civil War

During the 1850s, the women’s rights movement gathered steam, but lost momentum when the Civil War began. Almost immediately after the war ended, the 14th Amendment and the 15th Amendment to the Constitution raised familiar questions of suffrage and citizenship.

The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, extends the Constitution’s protection to all citizens—and defines “citizens” as “male”; the 15th, ratified in 1870, guarantees Black men the right to vote.

Some women’s suffrage advocates believed that this was their chance to push lawmakers for truly universal suffrage. As a result, they refused to support the 15th Amendment and even allied with racist Southerners who argued that white women’s votes could be used to neutralize those cast by African Americans.

In 1869, a new group called the National Woman Suffrage Association was founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. They began to fight for a universal-suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Others argued that it was unfair to endanger Black enfranchisement by tying it to the markedly less popular campaign for female suffrage. This pro-15th-Amendment faction formed a group called the American Woman Suffrage Association and fought for the franchise on a state-by-state basis.

Gallery: The Progressive Campaign for Suffrage

This animosity eventually faded, and in 1890 the two groups merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the organization’s first president.

By then, the suffragists’ approach had changed. Instead of arguing that women deserved the same rights and responsibilities as men because women and men were “created equal,” the new generation of activists argued that women deserved the vote because they were different from men.

They could make their domesticity into a political virtue, using the franchise to create a purer, more moral “maternal commonwealth.”

This argument served many political agendas: Temperance advocates, for instance, wanted women to have the vote because they thought it would mobilize an enormous voting bloc on behalf of their cause, and many middle-class white people were swayed once again by the argument that the enfranchisement of white women would “ensure immediate and durable white supremacy, honestly attained.”

Did you know? In 1923, the National Woman's Party proposed an amendment to the Constitution that prohibited all discrimination on the basis of sex. The so-called Equal Rights Amendment has never been ratified.

Winning the Vote at Last

Starting in 1910, some states in the West began to extend the vote to women for the first time in almost 20 years. Idaho and Utah had given women the right to vote at the end of the 19th century.

Still, southern and eastern states resisted. In 1916, NAWSA president Carrie Chapman Catt unveiled what she called a “Winning Plan” to get the vote at last: a blitz campaign that mobilized state and local suffrage organizations all over the country, with a special focus on those recalcitrant regions.

Meanwhile, a splinter group called the National Woman’s Party founded by Alice Paul focused on more radical, militant tactics—hunger strikes and White House pickets, for instance—aimed at winning dramatic publicity for their cause.

World War I slowed the suffragists’ campaign but helped them advance their argument nonetheless: Women’s work on behalf of the war effort, activists pointed out, proved that they were just as patriotic and deserving of citizenship as men.

Finally, on August 18, 1920 , the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. And on November 2 of that year, more than 8 million women across the United States voted in elections for the first time.

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Higher History: Suffragette Essay Help

Here are some of the powerpoints I've been using last week. 

Download How important essay plan   Remember! - this is NOT the essay you will do next week. It is an essay which has a different 'isolated factor' but if you understand the process of how to deal with an isolated factor essay, then you'll find this useful and not confusing.

Download Early campaigns [spare one]

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You will be doing the Suffragette essay from the 2011 Paper

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