Era of the Great War: Video playlist

Before World War One, British women didn’t have suffrage - meaning they didn’t have the right to vote. Women’s organisations like the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (the Suffragists), and the Women’s Social and Political Union (the Suffragettes), fought to change this. The Suffragists’ approach used established, legal methods such as lobbying politicians, while the Suffragettes used militant campaigning, such as smashing windows and chaining themselves to railings. At the outbreak of the First World War, the whole suffrage movement focussed their efforts into getting women into war work. From munitions and ship building, to transport, agriculture and nursing, women across the UK were desperately needed to keep key industries alive. After the war, the suffrage movement continued – with new public support recognising women’s essential contribution during the war years. The 1918 Representation of the People Act extended the franchise to women over 30 who owned property, as well as all men over 21. But it was not until the Equal Franchise Act of 1928 that women over 21 gained the same voting rights as men.