Why Were Women Granted the Vote?

Why Were Women Granted the Vote?

There is no doubt in my mind that the effort given by women during the WW1 campaign was a key factor in the right to vote being granted. 

On February 6th 1918 the government passed the Representation of the People Act which allowed property owning women over the age of 30 the right to vote (Trueman, 2000)

An extract from The Representation of People Act 1918

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/brave_new_world/docs/repofthepeople_act.htm

Why Women were Granted the Vote

Many would argue that the effort by the women of Britain during the was instrumental to securing the right vote.

Many Historians believe that, as an act of gratitude, British Parliament granted the right to vote for the women's contribution during the war (Bartley, 2007).

The British media during the war and public opinion, according to (Rover, 1967) was also influential to securing the vote for women after the war.

The suffrage campaign to enfranchise women was strongly rumoured to be continuing after the war, thus resulting in the Government being granted the right to vote out of fear of facing a new domestic invasion of suffrage campaigners (Rover, 1967).

Historians suggest that the war in reality postponed women gaining the vote. There is evidence to suggest that before the war broke out the Liberal party was altering their minds on the suffrage movement, supporting the grant for women to gain the vote (Holton, 1986).