The Anniversary: 6 February, 1918
Let's start with the anniversary, then. The campaign to gain
women the vote in Britain had run for decades by 1918. Thinkers such as J.S.
Mill had long advocated the reform. It
was WWI which moved the game on –
war has often be the locomotive of history. Women had taken on male roles; the
armaments industry had based its production on the work of women. As the war
progressed, politicians began to discuss how to bring about the change so that
justice should be done. Thus on March 28
1917 the Commons with a huge majority, and the Lords by a far closer margin of
134 to 71, passed the Representation of the People Act, also known as The
Qualification of Women Act; on 6 February, 1918 it received royal assent and
passed into law.