To what extent did the First World War change the lives of women in Britain? The First World War was a time of loss, heartbreak and an endless fight for victory. It was the worst war the world had ever seen. But in amongst all of this suffering came an unexpected but positive outcome for women in Britain which had a huge effect on their lives. A wider range of jobs became available to them, they gained more independence and weren’t viewed as second citizens but most importantly, World War One lead to women in Britain gaining the vote.
After all, in countries such as New Zealand (1893), Australia (1901), Finland (1906) or Norway (1913) women got the vote before the war began, whereas others such as Denmark (1915), Iceland (1915), Holland (1917) or Sweden (1919) gave it to women during the war without being involved in it. (http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/womenww1_three.htm) Women did make steps when it came to labor, but many women also looked down on the working class feminists. They thought it was unnecessary, and women should have their own place in the home
This is when women first began to work for political equality with men. They pushed for equal opportunities involving their careers, working conditions and wages, and the right to own property. A breakthrough came in 1916 when Robert Borden granted the sisters, wives, and daughters of soldiers the right to vote. Nurses serving in the forces were also added to that list. Unfortunately, after the war ended many women were pushed to the side, as the female factory workers, ambulance drivers, and nurses
Using my own research i will discover whether the World War One had a positive effect on the role of women. After the immediate rise in female unemployment at the beginning of the war due to the ‘middle-classes wish to economise’ (first world war, accessed 07/01/09), the only option to replace the volunteers gone to front was to employ women in the jobs they had left behind. This was supported by all the major feminist groups, who suddenly ‘became avid patriots and organisers of the women in support of the war effort’ (war and gender, accessed 22/01/09). Overall women’s employment increased from ‘three million in 1914 to five million in 1918’ (Murphy, p373, 2000). For many of the women the war was ‘a genuinely liberating experience’ (first world war, accessed 07/01/09), and made the women feel useful as citizens.
As soon as the war broke out, the women of Britain suspended their campaign for the franchise, and boosted recruitment among the country. For example, suffragists with their publicity machine, worked to persuade young men to join the army. Meanwhile, some women’s organizations, such as Mothers’ Union and the Active Service League also tried to encourage men to join the army. One method consisted of giving out white feathers that symbolized cowardice to those men not enlisted. (Walsh,76) The war also posed serious problems to the British economy and labor industry.
Women were able, furthermore, to stand as candidates in local elections by 1888, enabling women to challenge opposition views that had always denied them their rights, and the increasing roles of women in society indicated greater social acceptance. However, limitations persisted in that these responsibilities were seen as ‘domestic’ and women were still openly denied the parliamentary franchise. In addition, these crucial changes remained restricted to only middle class women, thus losing crucial support from working class women who had already established highly developed unions. Hence, the Radical Suffragist Party focused on working class women thus ‘radical’ for these views. These contributed to social reform through peaceful means and set up successful women’s trade unions which created equal rights for women in payment and working hours.
In response to women’s contribution in WW1 Women gained the right to vote. Because the women helped the government in order to win the war by creating ammunition and Farming, this changed the lives of women by having the right to choose who is going to control the country. I can also infer that, the group called the Suffragettes has been fighting for women's rights. Because, the leader Mrs Pankhurst believes that women and men are equal and should have the rights and this changed woman's life by getting the same amount of payment as the men. This can be seen on source A1 which states that ‘’ women had proved that they were just as important to the war effort as men in 1918 women were given some form of political representation.
1 Women’s lives after the two world wars changed, but there is some debate as to how much it changed. Their lives changed politically, with women gaining the vote, they changed in terms of employment, as they were now permitted to join certain professions and they also changed socially as a better way of living was set out for them. It is argued that women were given greater opportunities after the wars due to their exceptional participation on the home front. However, many historians believe that this change in women’s lives was simply due to the changing times and the progression in society. The historical debate surrounding this topic is wether women’s lives really did change greatly after the two world wars, or wether their lives simply went back to the way they were before the war started.
Explain the impact that women made on America and their changing role after the Civil War. If their role did not change would this have changed the future of the nation? Ali Sterner APUSH – Period 4 Shaw January 28, 2011 In American History, women have not exactly had it easy. In colonial times, women were to do strictly house work and take care of the children. This changed after the Civil War, giving women their right to speak up and become more like men.
Why were women given the vote in 1918? In 1918, women had finally gained the right to vote, after 68 long and hard years of campaigning and rebelling they finally got the vote they wanted. The women had tried everything like campaigning, getting them selves arrested, using the media and many more things were done. However, there were a couple of things that they did which really helped them get the right to vote and they were the fact that they helped the men in World War I, like loading the bombs shells with explosives and tidying the bomb shelters. Also I thought that the Suffragists played a vital role in getting the rights for women to vote because they proved to the men that they could protest and campaign without using violence or breaking the law, unlike the Suffragettes, who resorted to violence when they wanted their way or when they wanted to be heard.