Was women’s mobilisation during the First World War a watershed
moment for the introduction of female suffrage in Britain?
Two momentous changes concerning women in Britain occurred during the
First World War. Women’s mobilisation into the war effort introduced many into the
industrial workforce, with women previously predominantly based within the home or
domestic service. The Representation of the People Act (1918) granted many
women the right to vote for the first time. As a result, women’s mobilisation has
traditionally been labelled as the direct cause of women’s suffrage. This essay will
argue that women’s mobilisation wa s not a watershed moment in the introduction of
women’s suffrage. Whilst mobilisation permitted the first opportunities of many
women for economic and social liberation this was limited by the patriarchal system
which sought to reassert its dominance over women. The legacy of women’s
mobilisation is not identifiable in the immediate aftermath of the War, rather it exists
within a continuous progression towards equal rights for women and should be
considered within the broader context of its political, economic, and social legacy.
This essay is structured to focus upon the challenges to the interpretation of
women’s mobilisation as a watershed moment. The historiographical debate is vital
to our perceptions of women in history. Thus, women’s mobilisation and suff rage are
crucial to study as it has important implications for the legacy of the Suffragette
movement, women’s war work and our understanding of citizenship in a democracy.
As the first women were granted the vote in 1918, prior to the formal end of
the First World War, there has been an assumption that the cause of women’s
suffrage was their mobilisation as this was their access point to the conflict.
However, the women’s suffrage movement is the primary example of women’s
agency within this period. Yet this is consistently overlooked by advancing the notion
that women’s mobilisation for the war effort was a watershed moment for their
suffrage. As a result, a ‘devalorization’ of the difficulties faced in campaigning for their political and civil rights has occurred. 1 Notably the experience of hunger strikes
1 Brigitta Bader-Zaar , ‘Controversy: War -Related Changes in Gender Relations: The Issue of Women’s Citizenship’, 1914-1918 Online International Encyclopedia of the First World War , 2014, para. 6 <https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/controversy_war- related_changes_in_gender_relations_the_issue_of_womens_citizenship> [accessed 22 February 2023].
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