Women's Suffrage in England

The First World War brought mixed reactions in England. The Public however was supportive of the Government decision. Nationalistic fervour rose and war was considered an opportunity for the ‘test of manhood’ (27,1914: The Opening Campaigns) Many saw in the War an aspect of liberation from an outworn regime. Intellectuals and ruling classes participated willingly and found in it an opportunity to display their leadership. Workers in the industries and in the urban environment s got a respite from their tedious jobs.The powers had not contemplated for a long war. British military head Kitchner understood well in time that the war would be a long one and would need a huge band. As such, it was essential to provision for man-power well in advance. He got an immediate response and by the end of 1914, more than a million men joined. This was more than what had been asked for, and far more than the number that could be equipped and armed. Compulsory enrolment in military service had been condemned by the Liberal Government. But as war progressed, requisition increased until in May 1916, conscription was made mandatory for all men in the age group 18 to 41.

In the industrial urbanity there formed a sudden lack of workers to work in the factories demanding a sudden “feeling- in” of position. For the first time, women were forced to give up the comfort of their homes and take the place of their male partners in the factories. Women had already been organizing themselves for the ‘suffragated’ movement to demand the vote and these organizations merged headlong into the war effort. Women gradually became an indispensible and a reliable alternative, not only in the nursing and welfare services but also in the offices, factories and agriculture thereby being involved and participating in all the activities of the welfare state. This change was reflected in a new representation of the People Act, by which the right to vote was extended to give franchise to women above the age of 30.

The war was seen as a ‘male domain’ and women had nothing to do with it. As women did not fight , they were necessarily excluded from the experience of war. It was a mixed reaction on the role that women played. Apart from the crisis in almost every English household suddenly plunged into hollowness as women lost their husbands, sons, fathers, brothers and children grew up without fathers , it included the vast arrangement that was required to send an individual to war and for ordinary women the struggle to maintain the household in the absence of their male counterparts. The private, at once, became public and confrontational as accusations of ill decorum and conduct against women became rampant. Sharon Ouditt raises important questions “Did the war change things for women? Were they better or worse off as a result of the war? Was the war fulfilling or a debilitating experience? Was it responsible for their being given the vote?”

Women wrote abundantly during this period which has found little or no interest until recently. Stories were woven around the themes of espionage, stories of love broken by a sudden declaration of hostilities between nations, the horrors of a German attack on a Belgian setting, stories of loss, bereavement and death, the moral and psychological courage with which women tried to rebuild their life after death sometimes through dignity of work or involved in other liaisons. There were again the novels on the liberation movement and how war destroyed the genteel, feminine ideals or how war gave a sudden freedom soon to be destroyed.

 Here, I cite some of the relevant texts written for the cause of suffrage.Maria C. Grey’s The Physical Force Objection to Women’s Suffrage published by the Central Society for women’s suffrage 1901 is a book about the crucial development of the suffragist, pacifist movement. B.L. Hutchers Conflicting Ideals of Woman’s Work provides a vital context of the debates surrounding women and work. Ellen Key’s War, Peace and the Future: A consideration of Nationalism and Internationalism and of the Relation of Women to War presents a Swedish woman’s view of the relationship between war and women and how education is the only way to curb the menacing arrangements that lead to war. “How can we then expect that “this man made world’ will be regenerated through women’s vote , if women, by her personal share in the war sanctions those means of settling national misunderstanding tat she has claimed to wish to combat with her vote.”(Ouditt 70). Tierl Thompson edited Dear Girl: The Diaries and Letters of Two Working women in London is a testimony of those who took part in some of the major suffrage rallies. Vera Britian’s autobiography Testament of Youth is considered the best record of the war time period.  Books were also written by women on the social and cultural history such as Sarah Boston’s Women Workers and the Trade Unions covers the period of Trade Union history from 1874 to 1986. Gall Braybon’s Women Workers in the First World War: the British Experience which is an account of the public debate surrounding working class employment during the period.

This is an interesting area of research which definitely needs further exploration. Encouraging the study of women’s literature of the period will open newer avenues which will confidently place women’s contribution on a firmer ground and help to negotiate her position in a pre-dominantly ‘man’s area’. This is not to eclipse or better man’s contribution which stands exclusively but only an humble attempt to locate the women of the period.