Article published on February 6th 2018.
This source is aimed at children, as it is taken from BBC's Newsround. However I found the video and article very good for breaking the issue down into simple terms. (I wish I had found this at the beginning of researching this Act, as a simple starting point.)
What was the law?
- Important law because it allowed women to vote for the very first time.
- Also allowed all men over 21 to vote.
- Before this law, women were not allowed to vote in general elections.
- Some men could vote, but not all of them (based on property and wealth)
- The contribution made during WW1 by men and women who didn't have the right to vote became an important reason for the law changing.
- Even after the Act, men and women still didn't have the same rights when it came to politics.
- The law said that women over the age of 30 who occupied a house (or were married to someone who did) could now vote.
- 8.5 million women now had the right to vote - 2 in every 5 women in the UK.
- All men over the age of 21 could vote - regardless of whether or not they owned property.
- Men in the armed forces could vote from the age of 19.
- The number of men who could vote grew from 8 million to 21 million.
- Still unequal between men and women.
- Another ten years before women were allowed to vote the same way as men.
- Important step in the fight for equality for women in society.
Voting in the past
- The Monarch used to have the majority if power over Parliament.
- Early 1800s, very few people could still vote - the ones that could were all men and women didn't have a say at all.
- Throughout the 19th century, groups like the Chartists campaigned to allow all men to be able to vote.
- In 1832 and 1867, laws were passed which did allow more men to vote than could before, but still didn't apply to all men.
- Women still didn't have a say in who could sit in Uk Parliament.
The role of women
- Up until Victorian times (1837-1901) women had very little rights - especially once married.
- Became tradition that women shouldn't be part of politics. (Queen Victoria agreed)
- Believed that women's place was at home, raising children and running the house.
- Increasing number of women getting full-time jobs.
- Made it easier for them to discuss politics and issues which affected their lives.
- Many were not happy about how society treated them so differently to men.
Time for change
- When the laws were passed in the 19th century that gave men more voting rights, and women were still left out.
- They began to campaign for their right to be able to vote
- Women wanted more equality in society in general - but their right to vote became the focus of their fight.
- Men who also campaigned for their right to vote too, but it was not a popular opinion.
- Changes in the law, since 1870, were all in favour of women receiving the vote.
- Weren't successful.
- Emmeline Pankhurst.
- Suffrage - "right to vote".
- Emily Davison
- Many women took on jobs that men traditionally did, whilst they were away fighting.
- Emmeline Pankhurst focused her efforts on helping the war effort and encouraged other suffragettes to do the same. She pointed out that there was no point in continuing to fight for the vote during the time of war.
- Gained women's suffrage a lot of respect - attitudes towards women began to change, in society.
- During this time, there were no elections to choose a new government.
- Women proved themselves to be as equal as en and the government promised to give women the right to vote when the war was finished.
- The Representation of the People Act 1918 was passed in February 1918, and women voted in the first general election in December that year.
What has happened since?
- Work done by Suffragettes and Suffragists in the years leading up to WW1 was extremely important for women getting the vote.
- Wasn't until the Equal Franchise Act 1928 that suffrage was extended to all women over the age of 21 - women finally had the same voting rights as men.
- Up until 1918, women hadn't been allowed to be MPs in Parliament.
- Different law passed in the same year as the Representation of People Act changed this too. In December 1918, the first women was elected into the House of Commons.
- UK has advanced a long way.
- Before the 20th century, there had been no female prime ministers.
- There are still more male MPs in Parliament.
- There is still inequality in the UK between men and women in different eras of life.
- People are also treated differently all around the world based on gender - more work to be done in the UK and other countries.
It also had many relevant videos, which I may use to look at the effects of the Act.
(In the post above, I have noted my findings for further use, all information is from the link at the top of this page.)
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