What were the arguments for and against women having the right to vote?
Two PEE paragraphs on the debate surrounding votes for women.
The basic fact was that laws and other decisions made by parliament affected women (and their children) just as much they effected men, especially for those women who paid taxes. Whilst many single women or widows faced the same responsibilities, including financial responsibilities, as men. Therefore, to deprive women of the vote was to deprive them of having a say in those decisions, a say in how their taxes were spent. How can Britain call itself a democracy when half its adult population don’t have a vote? It was also argued that women were more in tune with issues affecting the family than men, issues like health care and education. And so, as the welfare of children is important for the “well-being” of the nation, their experience and their knowledge should have a voice. Increasing numbers of women were also educated to the same levels as men. And women were also already involved in local government: voting for local authorities and even standing to be elected to local authorities. So, again, why differentiate?
Yet most men, and many women too, still thought it was the role of men to debate and make decisions. Most women were not educated to the levels of men. A woman’s role was seen to be of a nurturing nature: looking after their husbands, raising children, perhaps nursing and teaching. And giving better educated women (middle-class women) the vote will only encourage them to neglect their family duties. Besides, women do not do a lot of the jobs done by men and do not fight in wars. What, it was argued, do women know about the world of economics or foreign affairs? Women, it was felt, are not rational, rather they are too emotional. Some men were also annoyed by the issue as they felt it distracted attention away from more important problems facing the country: there was the issue over the independence of Ireland, for example, and Britain would, in 1914, be at war. There were also deeper, social concerns that, by giving the vote to women, it would change for worse the relationship between men and women. Whilst, there was also concern that giving the vote to propertied women would not only prejudice working class women but would bolster the Conservative vote.