Before the war, women spent a considerable amount of time and effort into gaining the vote. They actually began campaigning for the vote 70 years before the war began. However, many people believe that the only reason that women gained the vote was because of the war effort. .
When the war started in 1914, women's suffrage stopped. Women were released from prison and all marches and campaigns were cancelled. They began to realise this was a time when their country needed them, so they began to work. To begin with, when the men went off to fight, they were not very pleased that women were going to be taking over their jobs. I have taken from source E, from the sheet "The Changing Role Of Women In Britain Since 1900", some information to prove my point. "Attitudes to women workers remained negative. The ability of women to take on what had been men's work meant that increasing numbers of males were vulnerable to conscription". .
However, as World War One continued, men began to see that without the help of women their country would've fallen apart. Women were beginning to gain respect. .
When they gained the vote in 1918, many people assumed that it was because of their help during the war. But there were many other reasons why the government chose to pass the Reform Bill. For example during the war it was debated whether or not a general election was going to be held, this was a problem because most of the men who qualified as householders, with twelve months continuous residence at a given address, had left their homes to fight or work in another part of the country. Therefore the cabinet had to spend a lot of time deciding how to replace these men so that a general election could take place. By 1917 it was decided by the new Prime Minister, Lloyd George, that some sort of concession was to be made in favour of women having the vote. So be 1918 women had gained the vote, but only if they were over 30.
