BBC - Higher Bitesize History - Why women got the vote : Revision, Page2 Home > History > British suffrage movement > Why women got the vote History Why women got the vote Page Next Why some women gained the vote in 1918 The Representation of People Act became law in February 1918. From that point on women over 30, who were occupiers of property or married to occupiers, were entitled to vote. This was seen as a major success for women's suffrage and was also popular with the general public. The Act was not such a success for women under 30. They would have to wait another 10 years before they received the same rights. The success, albeit limited, of women's suffrage in 1918 can be attributed to a number of factors. War work The remarkable success of the thousands of women who entered the workplace to do the jobs usually done by men won them considerable respect and admiration. Commonly referred to as the 'weaker sex', women had proved themselves to be every bit the equal of men.

Trends towards democratic reform From the turn of the nineteenth century, political parties such as the Liberals and Labour favoured extending the franchise to sections of the population that were excluded at the time. Women were one such section. Before the war started the issue had been debated in Parliament and there was growing support for granting women the vote. Political recognition of the important role women played during the war further strengthened their case. Historians still debate which factors were more or less important. The cumulative effect was the recognition of women's political rights in the Representation of People Act. It ought to be borne in mind, though, that this was limited female franchise. Full adult suffrage was not achieved until Stanley Baldwin's Conservative government passed the Equal Franchise Bill in 1928. From that date, all adults regardless of gender were entitled to the vote once they reached 21 years of age. Page BBC - GCSE Bitesize - Votes for women History Votes for women The First World War provided the first opportunity for women to take on traditional male jobs so it isn't surprising that in 1918 women over 30 were given the same political rights as men.

But this change was not just a result of war - women had been campaigning for decades to be given the right to vote. The campaign - the basics Votes for women was part of a gradual improvement in women's rights that had been going on throughout the 19th century. The movement also campaigned for the right to divorce a husband, the right to education, and the right to have a job such as a doctor. Many women, however, saw the vote as the vital achievement that would give them a say in the laws affecting their lives. The National Union of Women's Suffrage [Suffrage: The right to vote in political elections. ] Societies - the Suffragists [Suffragists: a member of the NUWSS who wished to obtain the vote through peaceful means - led by Millicent Fawcett ] - was formed in 1897 and led by Millicent Fawcett. The group was made up of mainly middle-class women and campaigned peacefully. The organisation built up supporters in Parliament, but private members' bills to give women the vote all failed.

The Women's Social and Political Union - the Suffragettes [Suffragettes: Members of the women's suffrage movement, which fought to win British women the right to vote. ] - was formed in 1903 and led by Emmeline Pankhurst. Although this group was also middle class, it heckled politicians, held marches, members chained themselves to railings, attacked policemen, broke windows, slashed paintings, set fire to buildings, threw bombs and went on hunger strike when they were sent to prison. One suffragette, Emily Davison, ran out in front of the king's horse during the Derby of 1913 and was killed. The East London Federation of Suffragettes - formed in 1914 by Sylvia Pankhurst - was made up of working-class women. This group concentrated on social reform, and rejected the violence of the WSPU. A Suffragist rally Next Women were not given the vote before the war. At the end of the war, in 1918, however, the Representation of the People Act gave women over 30 the vote, and in 1928 this was extended to all women over the age of 21.

Votes for women - for and against It is important to realise that these arguments are not necessarily true, or what we would say today - they are what people said at the time. The arguments for and against women's suffrage For Against Women are equal before God. A woman's place is in the home; going out into the rough world of politics will change her caring nature. Women already have the vote in local elections. Many women do not want the vote, and would not use it if they got it. Women pay taxes. Women do not fight in wars. Some women (eg doctors and mayors) are far better than some men (eg convicts and lunatics) who have the vote. The vast mass of women are too ignorant of politics to be able to use their vote properly. Other countries have given women the vote. If women are given the vote, it will not be the gentle intelligent women who will stand for Parliament, but the violent Suffragettes. Parliament will be ruined. Why did women get the vote? The Suffragettes At the time, the Suffragettes caused a lot of anger and it has been argued that they lost support for the cause.

Certainly, women had not been given the vote by 1914, even after a lot of Suffragette violence. However, some historians argue that, although they could not be seen to give in to Suffragette violence, politicians could not face a return to Suffragette violence after the war, and that is why they gave women the vote. The War During the war, women served the nation and did men's work in many ways. When they were given the vote in 1918, almost every person who supported the motion in Parliament said that they deserved it because of their conduct during the war - they had proved that they could go to war' with the men. The problem with this argument is that only women who were householders over the age of 30 (6 million women) got the vote in 1918; women over 21 did not get the vote until 1928. Yet the 1918 Representation of the People Act gave the vote to all men over the age of 21 so the war did not bring women equality.

Sylvia Pankhurst In June 1914, she famously took a delegation of working class women to lobby Prime Minister Asquith who did not think that working class women were intelligent enough to have the vote. This proved to Asquith that working class women were intelligent enough to vote. The Suffragists Some historians argue that the long-term persuasion of the Suffragists won the vote. In 1916, Lloyd George, who supported women's suffrage, replaced Asquith as prime minister, and many pro-suffrage MPs who had been young men before 1914 now held influential places in the government. So the women won by patient persuasion, after all. Revision tip and answer preparation Revision tip Go through the information in this Revision Bite to make lists of facts about the Suffragettes, the Suffragists and Sylvia Pankhurst. When you have finished, consider the list and weigh the facts to form an opinion about what you think was most important in winning women the vote. Answer preparation As part of your revision, think about the arguments and facts you would use to explain: What the arguments were for and against female suffrage.

How effective the activities of the suffragists and the suffragettes were. Why some women were given the vote in 1918. 1918 Qualification of Women Act 1918 Qualification of Women Act ▼ Primary Sources ▼ 1918 Qualification of Women Act In January, 1917, the House of Commons began discussing the possibility of granting women the vote in parliamentary elections. Herbert Asquith , the Prime Minister during the militant suffrage campaign, had always been totally against women having the vote. However, during the debate he confessed he had changed his mind and now supported the claims of the NUWSS , WSPU and the Women's Freedom League . On 28th March, 1917, the House of Commons voted 341 to 62 that women over the age of 30 who were householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5 or graduates of British universities. MPs rejected the idea of granting the vote to women on the same terms as men.

Lilian Lenton , who had played an important role in the militant campaign later recalled: "Personally, I didn't vote for a long time, because I hadn't either a husband or furniture, although I was over 30." Soon afterwards Emmeline Pankhurst and Christabel Pankhurst established the The Women's Party . Its twelve-point programme included: (1) A fight to the finish with Germany. (2) More vigorous war measures to include drastic food rationing, more communal kitchens to reduce waste, and the closing down of nonessential industries to release labour for work on the land and in the factories. (3) A clean sweep of all officials of enemy blood or connections from Government departments. Stringent peace terms to include the dismemberment of the Hapsburg Empire." The party also supported: "equal pay for equal work, equal marriage and divorce laws, the same rights over children for both parents, equality of rights and opportunities in public service, and a system of maternity benefits." Christabel and Emmeline had now completely abandoned their earlier socialist beliefs and advocated policies such as the abolition of the trade unions .

After the passing of the Qualification of Women Act the first opportunity for women to vote was in the General Election in December, 1918. Seventeen women candidates that stood in the post-war election. Christabel Pankhurst represented the The Women's Party in Smethwick . Despite the fact that the Conservative Party candidate agreed to stand down, she lost a straight fight with the representative of the Labour Party by 775 votes. Only one woman, Constance Markiewicz , standing for Sinn Fein , was elected. However, as a member of Sinn Fein, she refused to take her seat in the House of Commons . Nancy Astor beat the Liberal Party candidate, Isaac Foot , and on 1st December 1919 became the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons. Constance Markievicz , like many feminists, was highly critical that a woman who had not been part of the suffrage campaign had been elected to parliament. She accused her being a member of the "upper classes" and "out of touch" with the needs of ordinary people.

Norah Dacre Fox , one of the leaders of the Women's Social and Political Union pointed out: "the first woman to be elected for an English constituency was an American born citizen, who had no credentials to represent British women in their own parliament save that she had married a British subject." ▲ Main Article ▲ Primary Sources (1) In her book Memories of a Militant, Annie Kenney described the proposals to give women the vote. In 1917 the question of granting the vote to women was discussed in Parliament. It was admitted by friend and foe that British women had played and were playing a unique part in the war There was great rejoicing among all sections of women. What a relief to think that once peace was declared abroad peace on a modest scale would be declared at home. The agitation was at last drawing to a close On February 6th, 1918, Royal assent was given to the "Representation of the People Act." Women were voters. And so my Suffrage pilgrimage was ended I left the Movement, financially, as I joined it, penniless. Though I had no money I had reaped a rich harvest of joy, laughter, romance, companionship, and experience that no money can buy.

(2) Manchester Guardian (7th February, 1918) The Representation of the People Bill, which doubles the electorate, giving the Parliamentary vote to about six million women and placing soldiers and sailors over 19 on the register (with a proxy vote for those on service abroad), simplifies the registration system, greatly reduces the cost of elections, and provides that they shall all take place on one day, and by a redistribution of seats tends to give a vote the same value everywhere, passed both Houses yesterday and received the Royal assent. (3) In March 1918, Isabella Ford celebrated women over the age of thirty being granted the vote. It is indeed wonderful when one wakes up in the morning to remember that now, at last, one is considered to be a real, complete human being! After thirty years of endeavor to make men understand they were only half the world the price we have paid for our enfranchisement is too heavy, some of us find, to allow us to rejoice in the light-hearted, happy fashion we used to picture in old days, but we are filled with a deep and earnest thankfulness.

(4) Norah Elam , Fascist Quarterly (1935) I preferred to stand as an Independent, going down with all the other women candidates on this occasion, save one. The exception was the Sinn Fein Countess Markievicz, who though a notorious and avowed enemy of Britain, found it a perfectly simple matter under the democratic system to secure election to the Parliament of the country which she had openly boasted that she would destroy, disintegrate and discredit. She was if I remember rightly, returned unopposed. The next example was hardly more encouraging, for the first woman to be elected for an English constituency was an American born citizen, who had no credentials to represent British women in their own parliament save that she had married a British subject. (5) Constance Lytton , letter to Major Neville Lytton, January 13th, 1918.

The women who fought for it - some giving their lives, others mutilated for life, others coming through after much suffering, all greater than mine - have won the victory now for women in Great Britain, and very soon in the four corners of the earth - in America, Canada, South Africa, in the other countries of Europe, in India (though very slowly, I fear, there), in China." (6) In 1919 the Women's Freedom League held a public meeting to celebrate women over thirty obtaining the vote. One of the speeches was made by eighty-three year old Charlotte Despard . I have seen great days, but this is the greatest. I remember when we started twenty-one years ago, with empty coffers I never believed that equal votes would come in my lifetime. But when an impossible dream comes true, we must go on to another. The true unity of men and women is one such dream. The end of war, of famine - they are all impossible dreams, but the dream must be dreamed until it takes a spiritual hold. (7) Margery Corbett Ashby stood as the Liberal candidate for Ladywood in Birmingham. She explained what happened in her Memoirs.

I hoped to get the women's vote and that of the new and inexperienced voters. The women were the most sympathetic to me. The result of the election was a resounding victory for Lloyd George and the coalition government, but I had the satisfaction of polling as many votes as did the nine Liberal candidates in neighbouring constituencies. Being a woman was neither an advantage or disadvantage. (8) Olive Schreiner , speech to meeting in commemoration of John Stuart Mill (July, 1918) We are meeting today to commemorate a man whom I believe to be the noblest of those whom the English-speaking race has produced in the last hundred years. John Stuart Mill laboured for the freedom of women. But he did more. He laboured for human freedom. Women can best show their gratitude to him by studying his writings. Many women have now the vote, and are part of the governing power of their nation - all will have it soon. If we wish to use our power to its noblest end, we shall have to learn the lesson Mill taught - that the freedom of all human creatures are essential to the full development of human life on earth.

We shall have to labour, not merely for a larger freedom for ourselves, but for every subject race and class, and for all suppressed individuals. To do this is to lay the best tribute we can at the feet if John Stuart Mill. (9) Evelyn Sharp , Unfinished Adventure (1933) When militants and non-militants alike hastened to offer war service to the Government, no doubt many of them felt, if they thought about it at all, that this was the best way of helping their own cause. Certainly, by their four years' war work, they did prove the fallacy of the anti-suffragist' favourite argument, that women had no right to a voice in questions of peace and war because they took no part in it. Personally, holding as I do the enfranchisement of women involved greater issues than could be involved in any war, even supposing that the objects of the Great War were those alleged, I cannot help regretting that any justification was given for the popular error which still sometimes ascribes the victory of the suffrage cause, in 1918, to women's war service.

This assumption is true only in so far as gratitude to women offered an excuse to the anti-suffragists in the Cabinet and elsewhere to climb down with some dignity from a position that had become untenable before the war. I sometimes think that the art of politics consists in the provision of ladders to enable politicians to climb down from untenable positions. (10) Norah Elam , The Blackshirt (22nd February, 1935) What woman is there amongst us who made that fight, who does not today feel disillusioned? Where are the great leaders of those days? Look through the names of the women who climbed to Parliament on the efforts of the suffragettes, and see that not one leading women of that day has ever sat in the House of Commons. Democracy had killed them politically, and today they are forgotten as though they had never been. What happened was that by the time women were given the vote, the democratic system was crumbling and falling into decay.... Turning to various political parties, full of vigour and enthusiasm to play their part in the new world as liberated citizens, they found themselves bound and fettered by the party caucus and chained to the party system...

No woman who loves her country, her sex or her liberty, need fear the coming victory of Fascism. Rather she will find that what the suffragettes dreamt about twenty odd years ago is now becoming a possibility, and women will buckle on her armour for the last phase of the greatest struggle, for the liberation of the human race, which the world has yet seen. The 1918 Representation of the People Act - History Learning Site Home » The Role of British Women » The 1918 Representation of the People Act The 1918 Representation of the People Act Citation: C N Trueman "The 1918 Representation of the People Act" historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 17 Mar 2015. 16 Aug 2016. The 1918 Representation of the People Act The 1918 Representation of the People Act was the start of female suffrage in Great Britain. The bill was passed by an overwhelming majority in the House of Commons (385 for to 55 against) – an element of support that surprised the Suffragettes and other suffragist movements.

The 1918 Representation of the People Act gave women of property over the age of 30 the right to vote – not all women, therefore, could vote – but it was a major start. Why did the House of Commons give such overwhelming support to the bill when just four years earlier it had been apparently so hostile to female suffrage? A general assumption is that the act was a ‘reward’ for the vital work done by women during World War One. Before the war, society had been suitably angered and horrified by the acts of the Suffragettes – arson, vandalism, attacking politicians, the Derby of 1913 etc. Parliament rationalised on the following: how could women be given such a right when they could not be trusted to act decently? During the war, Britain had experienced a potentially disastrous munitions shortage and this was only solved by the work done by women in munitions factories. Women had also driven buses, worked on surface jobs in coal mines etc. Vital work was also done on farms to keep Britain well stocked with food. This assumption has now been challenged as not being as accurate as was once thought.

Women in France did equally as important work in World War One but did not receive the right to vote after the war. Why? One of the reasons put forward for this is that there was no pre-war suffragist movement in France – and certainly not the militancy of the Suffragettes. An argument put forward for the inclusion of a female suffrage section in the 1918 Representation of the People Act is that the work of the Suffragettes and the suffragist movements pre-1914 had been important. While the Suffragettes had shocked society (both male and female), no-one was keen to return to the violence of pre-1914 Britain, a nation exhausted by war. Therefore, the role of the Suffragettes may have been far more important than was originally thought. Britain was shocked by the violence of the Russian Revolution – could it risk such social disorder here? If the Suffragettes re-started their campaign, where would it end? Could the government risk taking such a gamble? Many women who had done such valuable work during the war, had now by 1918 been made redundant or were being pressurised into returning to their old employment – invariably domestic work.

How could the government gamble that these women would not join the Suffragettes, thus strengthening their numbers and engage in violent activities (even more violent that pre-1914)? Once society went into a spiral of violence, how could it be contained? So why did the bill pass with such a huge majority? Did men in the House of Commons suddenly convert to the cause of the suffragist movement? Many MP’s did believe that some reform was inevitable and that by passing the female suffrage section of the 1918 Representation of the People Act, it would keep the suffragists happy but also delay more radical reform – such as full and equal voting rights for men and women. A general view was that such equality could be delayed by up to thirty years if the 1918 bill was passed with a limited female suffrage section in. The bill received support from the Conservative Party because their research had shown that in 142 constituencies, 98 supported women getting the right to vote and only 44 were against the principal. If this support was true over the whole of the country’s constituencies, then the party had to support female suffrage or potentially face the consequences at the general election.

While the suffragist movement welcomed the 1918 Representation of the People Act, it was, in fact, a remarkably conservative measure. Therefore, when the ‘small print’ was read, Conservative MP’s and those in other parties that opposed the issue of female suffrage, may well have seen the act as a success in that it could have gone a lot further. The act only enfranchised women over 30. Many of the women who had worked in the fields and in munition factories were under 30 and therefore did not get the right to vote. There was a belief among politicians that women over 30 were more able to understand the intricacies of politics and that they would be less likely to support radical ideas. It was also reckoned that women over thirty would be more likely to be married with children – also making them less likely to belong to radical movements with radical ideas. Ironically, those who had been the main supporters of the Suffragettes pre-1914 were also excluded. Educated middle-class women had gone into white-collar work after 1920 and many lived in rented property away from their parents as a sign of their independence.

Therefore they were not property owners and did not qualify to vote in general elections The bill passed the House of Lords with similar ease despite its reputation for being anti-female suffrage. Why? The prominent lord, Lord Curzon, was president of the National League for Opposing Women’s Suffrage. He was expected to lead the campaign in the Lords to defeat the female suffrage section in the 1918 Representation of the People Act. In fact, Curzon had made it plain that he did not want to have a clash with the Commons and he stated that he would not oppose the bill. Other members of the Lords seemed to lose heart over his decision not to act as their spokesman and the Lords voted for the bill by 134 votes for to 71 against. After being passed by both Commons and Lords, the bill only needed the Royal Ascent from George V. This it received as a failure to give it would have led to a huge constitutional crisis. It is also possible that advisors to George V made it clear that the bill only had a limited impact where female suffrage was concerned. The 1918 Representation of the People Act increased the electorate to about 21 million. 8.4 million were women.

Therefore the act gave women a 40% ‘stake’ in elections. About 22% of women 30 years of age and above were excluded from the right to vote as they were not property owners. These were women who were invariably working class. The tendency to think that many of the newly enfranchised women were conservative by nature and Conservative politically, seems to be true. Research on voting patterns in the 1920’s does indicate that women did tend to vote for the Conservatives. At the time the 1918 Representation of the People Act seemed a major victory for the suffragist movements. Millicent Fawcett called the enactment of the act the greatest moment in her life. A victory party was held by suffragist societies at the Queen’s Hall in March 1918. Having witnessed in one act a jump from 0 to 8.4 million in terms of the number of women who could vote, many did see the act as a victory. However, there were women who still saw the act as a betrayal as it still classed them as second class citizens to men.

The 1918 Representation of the People Act gave all men over the age of 21 the right to vote (and aged 19 if the men had been on active service in the armed forces). Therefore, politically women were still not the equal to men in Britain even after the 1918 act. Women achieved full equality regarding suffrage in 1928. Women historians Did the War get Women the vote? Source L Constance Rover ï¿½ YES! It is frequently said that women were given the vote ï¿½because of the warï¿½ï¿½ The war changed the situation in more ways than are obvious at first sight. The obvious effect was that womenï¿½s contribution to the war effort was seen and appreciated and that women, instead of being subjected to frequent criticism in the press and by public figures, were very generally praised. Public opinion became overwhelmingly favourable towards women. Public opinion also became more democratic generally, as the shared hardships created a more equal society and lessened the emphasis on class divisions. There was a general desire that sacrifices should not be in vain and that a better world should come out of the war.

Surely a land fit for heroes to live in might include a place for a few heroines as well? The war emphasised the participation of women in the everyday life of the nation. It was obvious to all that women were driving vehicles, acting as bus conductors and filling many posts customarily held by men. As we might say today, womenï¿½s ï¿½public imageï¿½ changed and improved. Besides these obvious changes, the war transformed the political situationï¿½ It was obvious that the campaign would recommence once the war was over if nothing was done to enfranchise women. It would have been extremely embarrassing and probably unpopular as well to imprison women who had played such an important part in the war effort. Constance Rover, Womenï¿½s Suffrage and Party Politics in Britain 1866ï¿½1914 (1967) Source M Paula Bartley ï¿½ NO! It would be naï¿½ve to believe that women received the vote solely for services rendered in the First World War.

It must be remembered that only women over 30 were given the vote and the very women who had helped in the war effort ï¿½ the young women of the munitions factories ï¿½ were actually denied the vote. The significance of womenï¿½s war work in the achievement of the vote is therefore perhaps not as great as first assumed. In reality, women were greatly resented in both agriculture and industryï¿½ Men ï¿½froze outï¿½ women workers, gave them no help and even sabotaged their workï¿½ The reasons for the shift which took place in Government thinking therefore need consideration. First and perhaps most importantly, there was a need for franchise reform in general. Large numbers of soldiers were ineligible to vote. This of course would not do. Secondly, there were a number of changes in Parliament which altered the balance between those who opposed and those who were in favour of votes for women. Several suffragist MPs were promoted to the Cabinet. More importantly Lloyd George, who was sympathetic to womenï¿½s suffrage, replaced Asquith as Prime Minister in December 1916.

Thirdly, the war allowed a number of hostile MPs ï¿½ Asquith in particular ï¿½ the excuse to climb down. These MPs, though not converted to womenï¿½s suffrage, realised that reform was inevitable and used womenï¿½s war work as a pretext to change. Asquithï¿½s remarks about the female electors of Paisley in 1920 suggest he still resented womenï¿½s involvement in Parliament ï¿½ ï¿½a dim lot, for the most part hopelessly ignorant of politicsï¿½. Fourthly, in May 1915, the Liberal government became a Coalition government. The old fears that one party might benefit from womenï¿½s suffrage were laid to rest Finally, Britain was merely reflecting an international trend towards full democracy. Women in New Zealand, Australia, Finland, Denmark and Norway had already been enfranchisedï¿½ It would have been a peculiar embarrassment if the mother of democracy, Britain, lagged behind other countries.

Paula Bartley, Votes for Women 1860ï¿½1928 (1998) Source N Arthur Marwick ï¿½ YES! The process by which women's participation in the war effort brought considerable social, economic and political gains can be traced in a very straightforward manner. The first issues to stress this time are again strengthened market position and the desire of governments to offer rewards for services rendered. But two further changes are also critical: the increased sense of their own capacity and increased self-confidence on the part of women themselves; and, on the other side, the total destruction of all the old arguments about women's proper place in the community, which both men and women had previously raised against any moves towards political and social equality for women. In the political story what is most striking is the way in which one after another all the old leading opponents of the idea of votes for women recant, and declare that since women have played such a vital part in the national effort, of course they must be allowed to share in the politics of their country. However, political rights are only one side of the story. Women also gained a measure of economic independence.

And, whatever the intentions of law-makers, they had gained a new self reliance and new social freedoms. Arthur Marwick, War and Social Change in the Twentieth Century (1974) Source O Sandra Holton ï¿½ NO! It seems reasonable to argue that British suffragists might fairly have expected to have gained the vote by 1918 if a Liberal government had been returned in the expected general election. It is even possible that there might have been a limited measure of women's suffrage under a Conservative government. All this must significantly modify those interpretations which stress the advent of war as the decisive factor in the eventual winning of the women's vote. It might even be that the war postponed such a victory. What can be confidently asserted is the importance of women's suffragists' own efforts, especially the efforts of the democratic suffragists, in securing the strong position enjoyed by their cause at the outbreak of war. Women's war work may have been important in converting some former opponents, or providing others with a face-saving excuse to alter their positions. But even before this, the political alliances the democratic suffragists had formed in support of their demand had ensured that women would have to be included in any future reform bill.

Sandra Stanley Holton, Feminism and Democracy (1986) women take the right to vote :: section15.ca women take the right to vote May 30, 1997 1960! That's when all Canadian women were allowed to vote! Women won the vote in small and incremental steps, with our western provinces leading the way. The first federal election in Canada was held in August, 1867. Women didn't have the right to vote in it. Even if women met the same requirements around citizenship, property, age and race as men, women did not have the right to vote. Why? Because the laws of the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario, amended earlier in the 19th century, specifically excluded women from voting. Just because we were female ... Yeah, right! It was five decades before relatively privileged, mainly white women, and almost a century (1960) before all women citizens over the age of 18, regardless of racial origin, had the right to vote and hold office in Canada at all levels of government.

By the 1880s, women in Canada and other industrialized countries were passionately seeking fundamental and extensive social reform. Winning the right to vote and to hold office at the provincial and federal levels of government became a key goal. Disenfranchisement made women seem like second-class citizens, an increasingly unacceptable status to many women. This was unacceptable particularly to those in the growing middle class who had both religious and secular education, inherited or earned money and some leisure time to devote to an organization. Women had some success introducing social reforms - like changes in married women's property laws, temperance, changes to education and employment laws - but women were still denied the vote and the political power that went with it. Now, what do you think about that? Sonia Leathes, speaking in 1913 to the National Council of Women, put the challenge clearly: "It is on this account that women today say to the governments of the world: you have usurped what used to be our authority, what used to be our responsibility. It is you who determine today the nature of the air we breathe, of the food which we eat, of the clothing which we wear.

It is you who determine when, and how long, and what our children are to be taught and what their future prospects as wage earners are to be. It is you who condone or stamp out the white slave traffic and the starvation wage. It is you who by granting or refusing pensions to the mothers of young children can preserve or destroy the fatherless home. It is you who consider what action shall be considered a crime and how the offender, man, woman or child shall be dealt with. It is you who decide whether cannons or torpedoes are to blow to pieces the bodies of the sons which we bore. And since all of these matters strike at the very heart strings of the mothers of all nations, we shall not rest until we have secured the power vested in the ballot; to give or withhold our consent, to encourage or forbid any policy or course of action which concerns the people, our children, every one." As social reformers, women learned how to use the tools - petitions, publicity, private contacts [e.g. the men they knew] and lobbying- that were used to gain the vote.

In 1916, the first hard-won victory came in Manitoba after a new provincial government which supported women's suffrage was elected in the summer of 1915. Taking nothing for granted, the Manitoba Political Equality League presented two petitions to the new Premier. One petition contained 39,584 names. The second contained 4,250 names, all collected by Mrs. Amelia Burritt of Sturgeon Creek, Manitoba. Mrs. Burritt, included seated on the right in the photograph here, was 94 years old! She must have felt strongly about the vote for a century. On January 28, 1916, women in Manitoba ceased to be disqualified from voting and holding office solely because they were women.

Alberta and Saskatchewan followed later in 1916, British Columbia in 1917, Ontario in 1917 (women could not hold office until 1919), Nova Scotia in 1918, New Brunswick in 1918 (women could not hold office until 1934), Prince Edward Island in 1922, Newfoundland in 1925 and Quebec in 1940. The first women to be given the vote in federal elections were nurses serving in World War One. In 1917, women who were British subjects and who were wives, widows, mothers, sisters and daughters of those who had served or were serving in the Canadian or British military or naval forces were given the vote in federal elections. At the same time, people born in foreign countries and naturalized since 1902, or conscientious objectors, lost the right to vote. Finally in March 1918, all women who were otherwise qualified could vote in federal elections, and by 1920 qualified women could hold elected public office.

Native women covered by the Indian Act were prohibited by federal legislation from voting for band councils until 1951, and in federal elections until 1960. Most women of colour - Chinese women, "Hindu" or East Indian women, Japanese women - were prohibited from voting at the provincial and federal level until the late 1940s. That it took so long for these women to gain their rights raises a couple of interesting questions: How were women of colour treated in the women suffrage movement? How did this legislated racism affect their day to day lives in Canada? This feature was first published on section15.ca's predecessor site CoolWomen . Why Women Should Vote - American Memory Timeline- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress home In a publication of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, Alice Stone Blackwell, one-time editor of the Woman's Journal, outlines 16 reasons why women should be given the right to vote. The date of the article is unclear although it was written sometime after 1896. Which of the 16 arguments do you think are most compelling?

Which of the 16 reasons do you think those opposed to women's suffrage in the early 1900's might attack or find most objectionable? View the document from which this excerpt was taken, from Votes for Women, 1848-1921 . Use your browser's Back Button to return to this point. 1. Because it is fair and right that those who must obey the laws should have a voice in making them, and that those who must pay taxes should have a vote as to the size of the tax and the way it shall be spent. 2. Because the moral, educational, and humane legislation desired by women would be got more easily if women had votes. New York women have worked in vain for years to secure a legislative appropriation to found a state industrial School for Girls. Colorado women worked in vain for one till they got the ballot; then the Legislature promptly granted it. 3. Because laws unjust to women would be amended more quickly. It cost Massachusetts women 55 years of effort to secure the law making mothers equal guardians of their children with the fathers. In Colorado, after women were enfranchised, the very next Legislature granted it.

After more than half a century of agitation by women for this reform only 13 out of 46 States now give equal guardianship to mothers. 4. Because disfranchisement helps to keep wages down. Hon. Carroll D. Wright, National Commissioner of Labor said in an address delivered at Smith College on February 22, 1902 "The lack of direct political influence constitutes a powerful reason why women's wages have been kept at a minimum." 5. Because equal suffrage would increase the proportion of educated voters. The high schools of every state in the Union are graduating more girls than boys-often twice or three times as many. (Report of Commissioner of Education.) 6. Because it would increase the proportion of native-born voters. In three years from June 30, 1900, to June 30, 1903, there landed in the United States 1,344,622 foreign men, and only 576,746 foreign women. (Report of Commissioner General of Immigration.) 7. Because it would increase the moral and law-abiding vote very much, while increasing the vicious and criminal vote very little. The U.

S. Census of 1890 gives the statistics of men and women in the state prisons of the different States. Omitting fractions, they are as follows: In the District of Columbia, women constitute 17 per cent. of the prisoners; in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 14 per cent.; in New York, 13; in Louisiana, 12; in Virginia, 11; in New Jersey, 10; in Pennsylvania and Maryland, 9; in Connecticut, 8; in Alabama, New Hampshire, Ohio and South Carolina, 7; in Florida, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico and Tennessee, 6; in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina and West Virginia, 5; in Arkansas and Delaware, 4; in California, Minnesota, North Dakota, Texas and Vermont, 3; in Colorado, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska and Utah, 2; in Arizona, Kansas, Nevada and South Dakota, 1; in Washington, four-fifths of 1 per cent.; in Oregon and Wisconsin, two-fifths of 1 percent; in Wyoming and Idaho, none. 8.

Because it leads to fair treatment of women in the public service. In Massachusetts the average pay of a female teacher is about one-third that of a male teacher, and in almost all the States it is unequal. In Wyoming and Utah, the law provides that they shall receive equal pay for usual work. (Revised Statutes of Wyoming, Section 014; Revised Statutes of Utah, Section 1853.) 9. Because legislation for the protection of children would be secured more easily Judge Lindsey, of the Denver Juvenile Court, writes in Progress for July, 1904: "We have in Colorado the most advanced laws of any state in the Union for the care and protection of the home and the children. These laws in my opinion, would not exist at this time if it were not for the powerful influence of woman suffrage." 10. Because it is the quietest, easiest, most dignified and least conspicuous way of influencing public affairs. I takes much less expenditure of time, labor and personal presence to go up to the ballot box, drop in a slip of paper, and then come away, than to persuade a multitude of miscellaneous voters to vote right. 11.

Because it would make women more broadminded. Professor Edward H,. Griggs says: "The ballot is an educator, and women will become more practical and more wise in using it." 12. Because woman's ballot will make it hard for the notoriously bad candidates to be nominated or elected. In the equal suffrage states, both parties have to put men of respectable character or lose the women's vote. 13. Because it would increase women's influence Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford, president of the Colorado State Federation of Women's clubs, said at the National Suffrage Convention in Washington in February: "Instead of woman's influence being lessened by the ballot, it is greatly increased. Last year there were so many members of the legislature with bills which they wanted the club women to indorse that the Social Science department of the State Federation had to sit one day each week to confer with these legislators who were seeking our endorsement. Club women outside the suffrage states do not have this experience. 14. Because it would help those women who need help the most. Theodore Roosevelt recommended woman suffrage in his message to the New York Legislature.

On being asked why, he reported to have answered that many women have a very hard time, working women especially, and if the ballot would help them, even a little, he was a willing to see it tried. Mrs. Maud Nathan, President of the National Consumers League, said in an address at the National Suffrage Convention in Washington, in February, 1904: "My experience in investigating the condition of women wage-earners warrants the assertion that some of the evils from which they suffer would not exist if women had the ballot * * *. In the States where women vote, there is far better enforcement of the laws which protect working girls." 15. Because it is a maxim in war. "Always do the thing to which your adversary particularly objects." Every vicious interest in the country would rather continue to contend with woman's indirect influence than try to cope with woman's vote. 16. Because experience has proved it to be good.

Women have for years been voting literally by hundreds of thousands, in England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Utah, and Idaho, in all these places put together, the opponents have not yet found a dozen respectable men who assert over their own names and addresses that the results have been bad, while scores of prominent men and women testify that it has done good. An ounce of fret is worth a ton of theory. Women get the vote - UK Parliament Women get the vote Women and the Lords Women get the vote During 1916-1917, the House of Commons Speaker, James William Lowther, chaired a conference on electoral reform which recommended limited women's suffrage. Influential consideration Only 58% of the adult male population was eligible to vote before 1918. An influential consideration, in addition to the suffrage movement and the growth of the Labour Party, was the fact that only men who had been resident in the country for 12 months prior to a general election were entitled to vote. This effectively disenfranchised a large number of troops who had been serving overseas in the war.

With a general election imminent, politicians were persuaded to extend the vote to all men and some women at long last. Representation of the People Act 1918 In 1918 the Representation of the People Act was passed which allowed women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification to vote. Although 8.5 million women met this criteria, it only represented 40 per cent of the total population of women in the UK. The same act abolished property and other restrictions for men, and extended the vote to all men over the age of 21. Additionally, men in the armed forces could vote from the age of 19. The electorate increased from eight to 21 million, but there was still huge inequality between women and men. Equal Franchise Act 1928 It was not until the Equal Franchise Act of 1928 that women over 21 were able to vote and women finally achieved the same voting rights as men. This act increased the number of women eligible to vote to 15 million.

Question: When women were first given the vote in 1918 how old did they have to be to receive it?
Answer: 30