Suffrage Review reveals that whilst they perceived significant societal changes and
broader perceptions of citizenship caused by the War, they in no way shared these deep revisions and were sceptical of the effects of these electoral reforms. 33 The
Anti- Suffrage Review represents the harshest criticisms of women’s suffrage, with
the President, Earl Curzon, one of Parliament’s most vociferous opponents. It rejects
the traditional interpretation that women’s mobilisation was a watershed moment as
there was not universal acceptance by the political system for women’s suffrage. The Anti-Suffrage movement was weakened to a greater extent by the War. 34 Vitally, the
War’s most significant effect upon women’s suffrage was that it reinforced
masculinity in society and politics, regardless of the actions of women. Suffragette
militancy represented a direct affront upon masculinity and male dominance. The
ce ssation of it for the War’s duration enabled limiting women’s position in society to
however men defined it, as only men could hold positions of power in government
which increased its control during the War. Women’s mobilisation came out of necessity, rather than an aversion from the patriarchal system of labour. 35 As indicated, women had to campaign to be allowed to enter industrial war work. Additionally, a suspicion of women’s war motives remained throughout the war. 36
Women’s suffrage stems not from their mobilisation, but their reduced status in an
unopposed masculine society.
Women’s progress towards equal political rights cannot be seen in isolation
as within the 1918 Representation of the People Act as men also made progress,
surpassing that achieved by women as all males aged over twenty-one were granted
universal suffrage. If women’s mobilisation was a watershed moment for their
enfranchisement, then the conscription of young men was the pinnacle in the man’s
struggle for universal suffrage. Thus, the growth of cultural and gender history is
paramount to the wider understanding of the impact of War upon British society. As
Margaret and Patrice Higonnet argued in their influential work of the ‘Double Helix,’
33 National League for Opposing Woman Suffrage (Great Britain), ‘Anti - Suffrage Review’, LSE Digital Library , February 1918, pp. 1 – 2 <https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/objects/lse:yuw724loc> [accessed 9 April 2023]. 34 Brian Harrison, ‘The Impact of War’, in Separate Spheres: The Opposition to Women’s Suffrage in Britain (London: Taylor & Francis Group, 2012), pp. 202 – 27 (p. 203). 35 Woollacott, p. 112. 36 Noakes, ‘Demobilising the Military Woman’, p. 147.
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