Why_Did_the_Campaign_for_Women's_Suffrage_Develop

In the 19th century, society was very sexist and men had higher priority, worth and roles in everyday life. Women were only expected or allowed to do certain things, however these varied depending on whether they were upper, middle or working class. An upper class or middle class woman’s main role would be to support her husband- anything she may want from life would come second. Alternatively, if you were a working class woman the circumstances would be very different. Working class women were responsible for running the home, raising a family and having paid employment. Women were discriminated in many ways in daily life outside the home as well. They were expected to keep opinions to themselves and stay quiet. Furthermore, in everyday life, women were not considered intelligent enough to discuss issues such as politics with men even husbands. Situations like this lead to many protests due to frustration and anger over the discrimination between the sexes. Furthermore, as other groups that were discriminated against gained more equal civil rights it helped women to realise that they too deserved fair and equal rights to men. The life women lead in the 19th century as a whole is considered shockingly discriminatory in our modern world today. It is incredible how women – who were expected to keep quiet in a sexist society; spoke out so strongly in their protests for rights that they deserved not just for themselves but for future generations. One of the main rights women fought for was the right to vote, this meant a lot to all of the women fighting for rights, This was because, in the 19th century, women were classed with criminals and those with mental illness or disabilities as ‘unworthy’ to vote. It was believed they wouldn’t understand something as intellectual as politics even though it should have been their right as civilians to help choose who may help run their nation. Furthermore, the ability to vote will have helped to validate women in society and by gaining this right it would be easier for them to secure other important rights. Also, by achieving this they’d finally be able to experience fairness with men on an intellectual level; helping to make decisions that could determine the welfare of the nation. Education was a subject of great importance to women fighting for fairer rights in society; each of the new jobs depended on education. The type and quality of education a child received depended on gender, class and age. In early Victorian Britain, education for both boys and girls was patchy and disorganised. Most working class children had no education at all. With middle class children both boys and girls were educated however boys were educated to a very different and higher standard. Boys were educated at school with a broad curriculum whereas girls were usually taught at home by governesses and had a much narrower curriculum, geared towards the pursuit of a husband. Change began to take place around the 1850’s and 60’s when a key figure emerged- Emily Davies. Emily Davies brought about a lot of change and led campaigns for reform in the education of girls. As a result of pressure from Davies and campaigners the government set up a series of three Royal Commissions and the Taunton Commission paid special attention to schooling for girls. In 1870 the government made it compulsory for all authorities to set up enough schools to provide elementary education for all children up to the age of 10 in their area. In 1880, elementary school attendance was made compulsory, and in 1891 schooling was made free. Then, two years later the leaving age was finally decided and fixed at 11 years old. Years before this two former Queens College students went on to make important contributions to the schooling of girls. In 1853, Frances Buss transformed her private school into the North London Collegiate School for Ladies. Three years later, Dorothea Beale became headmistress of Cheltenham Ladies College; each school taught subjects such as maths, science and geography which were often were not taught to girls and frowned upon if done so. They also entered girls into public examinations. Their example inspired many other women, Maria Grey being one of them. Maria Grey founded the Girls’ Public Day School Trust, which was funded by business sponsors and share certificates. It began with three schools in Chelsea, Notting Hill and Croyden. By the 1890’s it ran 40 schools and taught 7000 pupils. Maria Grey also went on to set up the National Union for Promoting Higher Education for Women in 1872 and in 1878 established the first teacher training college for women. These changes made such a difference not only solely in the education standard for women but in how it affected the jobs they would later be able to achieve from their newly acquired skills. This all would help lead to women wanting the vote because as previously mentioned by gaining fairer situations with men such as better jobs and highly improved education they would understand more and more how it’s important that they too are granted the right to vote. They’d also learnt to question society more as they gained these different things from protests and campaigns. When it came to employment for women there were limited types of jobs they were allowed to do, these included: shop work, office work, nursing and teaching. After department stores were established in Britain jobs became available as the stored needed assistants ½ million new jobs were created in chain stores between 1875 and 1907. Also, rapid expansion in the post office offered new jobs. Hours were long and pay was poor but shop work offered some free time and independence for younger girls. With office work, as technology improved new opportunities opened up for women who were literate and could operate the new technology such as typewriters and telephones. By 1914 (after the need for more clerks) the post office employed 90% of government female workforce. However, it was only lower status jobs that were available to women. By the 1880s there were many new hospitals and they were staffed by trained nurses. By 1900, around 60,000 nurses were working and it became almost exclusively a woman’s job. Nurses had to resign once married. When it came to teaching; in 1870 the government passed an education act which doubled the number of elementary school pupils and most of the teachers that met the demands were women. However, a headmistress was paid only the same as a male teacher in his first job. It was important to most jobs for the women doing them to have an educational background; however despite how smart a woman may be they were never permitted to do jobs of higher importance, it was clear that changes in the law needed to take place. In 1859, Elizabeth Garret began her campaign to be allowed to train as a doctor. In 1874, Sophie Jex-Blake and Garret founded the London School of Medicine for Women, specifically to train women doctors. In 1876, campaigners succeeded in persuading MP’s to pass a law opening up all medical qualifications to women. By 1902, the London School of Medicine for Women had 200 students and there were 3535 practising women doctors. Changes in employment would lead to women wanting the vote because by this time women had proven that they could do the same jobs as men and harder ones for less money; showing they have the ability and intellectual capabilities so therefore should be equal with men including equality in the rights for voting. Furthermore, the more equality women earned in different aspects of society such as employment, the more they wanted equality in other things such as voting. Legal changes in this time period were great in significance for women and varied greatly in their topics. The three main aspects of society where big differences in the law were made were in marriage, employment and in elections. Marriage was one of the most unjust circumstances for women in the Victorian times. As we read about the laws at that time it does shock us especially when considering the dramatic changes compared to laws about marriage today. At that time laws were that: Victorian women were unable to obtain a divorce although husbands could divorce their wives. If a man divorced his wife then she lost the right to see her children. Many women spoke out strongly against these laws. Caroline Norton was one of many women who campaigned vigorously against the laws which left her powerless as a married woman. Norton was very supported with her case and in 1839 the first major step had taken place when the Custody of Infants Act was passed. This stated that mothers gained al custody of children under seven years and access to children over that age. After this another key figure in the campaign emerged; Barbara Leigh Smith who published a pamphlet in 1857 explaining the position of women under the law so everyone could understand this work and work of others led to the passing of the Matrimonial Causes Act later that year. This act meant that divorces could be obtained through a new court of divorce rather than only by an expensive private act of Parliament. Also, women who had been deserted by their husbands now gained the same rights to own or bequeath property as single women. The next big improvement didn’t come until 1870 when the Married Women’s Property Act was passed which gave women the right to own property and to keep their earnings from work however there were several unknown loopholes. This was followed by a second Property Act in 1882 but this took 18 attempts to be passed. Four years later the Parliament passed two other important acts; The Guardian of Infants Act and the Married Women’s Act. The first stated that the mother now became the legal guardian of the children in a family if the father died. The second said that a husband who deserted his wife had to pay maintenance furthermore in 1891 a court passed a judgement that a man could not force his wife to live with him. This tells us of the great progress made in these years within the aspect of marriage. Equally as important changes took place in the aspects of the laws about women and employment. In 1859, campaigns began as Elizabeth Garret began to fight to be allowed to train as a doctor. Garret managed to pass medical exams in 1866 after persevering in attending lectures and classes for training. However despite this she was not allowed to practise as a doctor. In 1876, campaigners were successful in persuading MP’s to pass a law opening up all medical qualifications to women and in the same year, Sophie Jex-Blake and six others passed their medical exams. In 1874, Jex-Blake and Garrett founded the London School of Medicine for women, specifically to train women doctors. By 1902, it had 200 students and there were 355 practising women doctors. A lot of changes were made in these years with laws referring to the elections and women. In 1865 there was the first attempt to get women the vote. Two MP’s tried to change the Reform Act that was due to be passed in 1867 so that it would allow women the same political rights as men – their effort was defeated. As a result of these attempts a group of women set up a group known as the London Society for Women’s Suffrage and this example was followed in many towns across Britain. Furthermore as a result of the frustration after the 1867 Act which allowed even more men to vote the various groups started uniting and in 1867 all were brought together in a loose grouping and called the National Society for Women’s Suffrage (NWSW). Later, strong women leaders encourage those who met the ‘property qualification’ to try to register to vote however, in November 1868 a court rejected this option saying it was illegal so the suffragists had to try to get the law changed if they wanted the vote. In 1869 the suffrage movement was very encouraged when a change to the Municipal Corporations (Franchise) Act gave them the right to vote in local elections on the same basis as men. By 1892 there were 503,000 who could vote in local elections in England, Scotland and Wales. In 1870 the first women’s suffrage bill was introduced by Jacob Bright; proposing that women be given the vote on the same terms as men. However the prime minister at the time Gladstone was greatly opposed to the idea of votes for women so the bill was defeated. In 1884, a Reform Bill was going through bill which had an amendment attached which would have allowed 100,000 women to vote. It got a lot of support, but 104 MP’s who said they would support the bill voted against it when Gladstone again said he was opposed, so it was rejected. After this many women lost hope however in 1883 made more progress when the Corrupt Practices Act became law. This made it illegal to employ paid agents to do election work, so parties had to rely on unpaid volunteers, mainly women. As a result of this they realised how much they relied on women, and set up female associations: the Women’s Liberal Federation was formed in 1887- by 1896 it had 82,000 members. The Conservatives Primrose League allowed women to become members shortly after it was established in 1883 and by 1893 its female membership was estimated at 500,000. However these groups were not allowed to campaign to get the vote for women. So, many significant changes took place for women in the laws about elections they earned local vote in these years and by 1893 many were very involved in the national elections. These changes in the law would have lead to women wanting the vote because as they became more involved in the aspect of politics they would have seen how they would be able to make a difference. Furthermore, during these years a lot of more men were given the right to vote and this will have frustrated women and made them even more determined that they deserved the vote too. In conclusion, the years around 1870 were very important because within these years lots of significant events took place that were essential to the development of women and how they achieved fairer rights within a sexist society. The changes and developments within the different aspects of society above each contributed greatly to women’s demand for the vote. Employment lead to women demanding the vote because as the years went on women continued to fill positions throughout society varying from clerks to nurses and always did so with great success and little complaint. Therefore, they felt they deserved the vote as they proved they could do the same jobs as men and harder ones for terrible pay. Changes in education helped lead to the women’s demand for the vote because as they got better education they showed they now had the knowledge, ability and always the right to vote alongside men. Finally, changes in election helped lead to women’s demand for the vote because the more rights they earned within politics such as the right to vote in local elections the more rights women wanted.