How far do you agree with the statement ‘the war had little impact on the decision to give women the vote?’ Use sources O,P and M and your own knowledge (40 marks)
Women’s involvement in the war effort changed the attitudes of several men, MPs and even Asquith. Sources O and P agree with the view that the war had little impact on the decision to give women the vote to a certain extent as source O argues that doors were already opening for female suffrage and things were improving already and the war just sped things up and source P argues that the war did little to change the views of men about gender roles. Source M completely disagrees with the statement as it is a speech by Asquith, the prime minister who had previously been extremely hostile towards female suffrage, stating that Britain would have lost the war if it hadn’t been for women and their work at home.
Source O agrees with the statement to a certain extent as it argues that the war was just a small stepping stone to achieving the vote as “before the war the doors...were already opening.” This suggests that the suffrage campaign’s work before the war played the main role in the enfranchisement of women over 30 in 1918. However, source O also argues that the war did speed up the process and had a significant impact on the decision to give women the vote as men no longer had a reason to say that they were no longer capable of being enfranchised. Source P also agrees with the view to a certain extent as it argues that although it produced positive publicity for women it “did not lead men to change their view about gender roles.” However, from my own knowledge I know that the work women did in the war led to a change in attitudes for the majority of men as they began to become more sympathetic towards female suffrage due to the fact that women were now nursing soldiers back to health and rescuing men from the front, this led to men becoming more grateful to women and meant that they no longer had a reason to justify their previous view that women did not have the same capabilities as men as they were risking their lives and working in dangerous condition, for example munitions factories where they worked with bullets and bombs and had a high
