Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom
In 1918 a coalition government passed the Representation of the People Act 1918, enfranchising all men over 21, as well as all women over the age of 30 who met minimum property qualifications, in both Britain and Ireland.[9] Women were also included in the suffrage on the same terms as men (i.e., all parishioners over 21) in the unique set of border polls carried out from 1915 to 1916 under the Welsh Church Act 1914.After the enactment of the Reform Act 1832, the MP Henry Hunt argued that any woman who was single, a taxpayer and had sufficient property should be allowed to vote.Conservative members wished to move slowly to avoid alarming public opinion, while Liberals generally opposed this apparent dilution of political conviction.As a result, Helen Taylor founded the London National Society for Women's Suffrage, which set up strong links with Manchester and Edinburgh.Determined lobbying by the WSS, and the support of local MP William Johnston, ensured the 1887 Act creating a new municipal franchise for Belfast (a city in which women predominated due to heavy employment in mills) conferred the vote on "persons" rather than men.From 1886 onwards, every vote taken had shown the majority of MPs in favour of women's suffrage, but without government support, and with opposition in the Lords, the bills were crowded out of the legislative agenda.[21] The Women's Social and Political Union blamed Prime Minister Asquith, as the eight members of the Liberal Government whose votes against the measure sealed its fate.Firstly, they showed women who were members to be competent in the political arena and as this became clear, secondly, it brought the concept of female suffrage closer to acceptance.[citation needed] Although there is evidence to suggest that they were originally formed to promote female franchise (the first being in Bristol in 1881), WLAs often did not hold such an agenda.There was significant support for woman suffrage in the Liberal Party, which was in power after 1905, but a handful of leaders, especially H. H. Asquith, blocked all efforts in Parliament.This is notable as the first attempt to create a unified front to propose women's suffrage, but had little effect due to several splits, once again weakening the campaign.While there was a majority of support for suffrage in parliament, the ruling Liberal Party refused to allow a vote on the issue; the result of which was an escalation in the suffragette campaign.[26] The tactics of the WSPU included shouting down speakers, hunger strikes, stone-throwing, window-smashing, and arson of unoccupied churches and country houses.In the months that followed WSPU militants (including Elizabeth Bell, the first woman in Ireland to qualify as a doctor and gynaecologist) were implicated in a series of arson attacks on Unionist-owned buildings and on male recreational and sports facilities.[28] In July 1914, in a plan hatched with Evans, Lillian Metge, who was previously part of a 200-strong deputation that charged George V as he entered Buckingham Palace, bombed Lisburn Cathedral."[32] Smith concludes:[33] Although non-historians often assumed the WSPU was primarily responsible for obtaining women's suffrage, historians are much more skeptical about its contribution.[citation needed] Asquith, an opponent, was replaced as prime minister in late 1916 by David Lloyd George who had, for his first ten years as an MP, argued against women having the franchise.The federation held a pacifist stance and created co-operative factories and food banks in the East End to support working class women throughout the war.In early 1916, suffragist organizations privately agreed to downplay their differences, and resolve that any legislation increasing the number of votes should also enfranchise women.Pankhurst, alongside her two daughters, Christabel and Sylvia, founded and led the Women's Social and Political Union, an organisation that was focused on direct action to win the vote.[40] Frustrated with years of government inactivity and false promises, the WSPU adopted a militant stance, which was so influential it was later imported into suffrage struggles worldwide, most notably by Alice Paul in the United States.By supporting the British in World War I, she thought women would be recognised as a prominent part of Europe and deserved basic rights such as voting.Her sister was Elizabeth Garrett Anderson an English physician and feminist, and the first woman to gain a medical qualification in Britain.[51] This was significant because he produced a space for women to create propaganda to better aid the suffrage movement and, at the same time, earn money by selling the art.[49] Whitfield concludes that the militant campaign had some positive effects in terms of attracting enormous publicity, and forcing the moderates to better organise themselves, while also stimulating the organization of the antis.To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Women being given the right to vote, a statue of Millicent Fawcett was erected in Parliament Square, London in 2018.
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