World War I: Who Were The Suffragettes

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1 – Who were Suffragettes? Suffrage means having the right to vote in political elections. Today women have freedom and rights to vote which can be taken for granted. The mid 19th century woman had no rights and no independent means and was always seen as second class. A woman’s role was looking after the home, and being a mother to her children. It was around this time when women began to rebel against the way they were treated in society. 2 – What metods did S. use? For over ten years the Suffragettes tried to get Parliament to change the law and allow women to get the vote. At the start of their campaign they held large meetings, shouted at politicians and wrote petitions to Parliament. They smashed windows, burned post boxes, attacked…show more content…
A victory party was held by suffragist societies at the Queen’s Hall in March 1918. 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 suffragein 1928. Representation of the People Act is amended and allows everyone over the age of 21 to vot. The liberation of women took other forms. They started to wear lighter clothing, shorter hair and skirts, began to smoke and drink openly, and to wear cosmetics. Married women wanted smaller families, and divorce become easier, rising from a yearly average of 800 in 1910 to 8000 in 1939. Once women could vote, many people felt that they had gained full and equal rights. But there was still a long battle ahead for equal treatment and respect both at work and at home. The struggle for full women’s rights is one of the most important events in recent British

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