On this day in history in 1918, women won the right to vote in the UK!
How Did Women Gain The Vote? Women in the UK gained the right to vote through the Representation of the People Act 1918. The Representation of the People Act became law on the 6th of February 1918, several months after the bill was passed in the House of Commons - the House of Commons voted in favour of the Representation of the People Act on the 19th of June 1917, where there was resounding favour by parliamentarians for the bill (385 Members of Parliament - MPs - voted in favour of the bill, while only 55 MPs voted the bill down and refused to back it). After parliament voted in favour of the act, the Representation of the People Act 1918 became law. It resulted in women who were over 30 and had property gaining the right to vote in elections in the UK. The bill also resulted in all men over 21 being allowed to vote. It resulted in millions of women and men being enfranchised. Not all women could vote though. However, that didn't last long: just ten years later, the 1928 Equal Franchise Act passed as law. The 1928 Equal Franchise Act resulted in all men and women being allowed to vote in the UK who were over 21.
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Votes For Women
This February marks the centenary of women achieving the right to vote. Campaigning for votes for women wasn’t easy. At the time, most men had secured the right to votes. February 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of when, some, women achieved the right to vote. Votes for women were given to some women in February 1918. The Representation of the Peoples Act 1918 The Representation of the Peoples Act 1918 gave some women over the the age of 30 years. Votes for women were only given to women who received the right to vote on certain conditions, namely – property owning conditions. Men of the same acquirement's had already achieved the vote. Men received the vote throughout the 19th century at various times in the UK. Firstly, there was the Reform Act 1832, which enfranchised some men. Then later there was the Second Reform Act 1867, and the Third Reform Act 1884. However, many men still didn’t receive the right to vote.
The Representation of the Peoples Act 1918, enfranchised both men and women. Most working class men received the right to vote with this act. Whereas, working class women did not. The act was really giving votes for women to middle-class women, who had property qualifications. It took further reform working class women to receive vote on the same terms as many.
Votes For Women A Remarkable Achievement Votes for women were a remarkable achievement. It was a huge step in history, which helped change the course of history for the UK; especially for women. It provided a landmark achievement in UK history, which would be the beginning of one of many milestones for women in the 20th century. What would succeed it was women having more employment opportunities and educational opportunities, women playing an important part of both World Wars, women’s fashion becoming less restricted (trousers became more common for women to wear), the first female Prime Minister in the UK. In the 21st century, we have the second female Prime Minister of our time. It’s hard to have imagine any of the latter things happening for women, without the Suffragettes and the Suffragists. |
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