Deeds Not Words The Fight For Women's Suffrage 1900-1918 Lesson One: The Social and Political Position of Women in 1900. Sweet Side Non-Sweet Side • You can have this lesson to chat amongst yourselves. • You have to sit in silence and do the following task. •You can create your own laws that the NonSweet side have to obey. •Write the following line until the lesson ends: I must always do what the sweet side tell me to do. Keywords When you see this key, and a word in bold, write down the key word, and its definition from the PowerPoint into your student workbook. Example Keywords: Special terms relating to the topic. What we will learn today: 1. What Britain was like for women at the start of the 20th century. 2. The restrictions placed on women's lives in society and at home. 3. Understand why women started to protest. The Social and Political position of Women in 1900. Social Position: What women could and could not do within society whether it be at work, home or in the community. There were restrictions on women's everyday lives that were not on men's. For example until 1857, women were not allowed to divorce their husbands even if they were being subjected to domestic violence. Political Position: This means the right for women to vote. Voting is one way in which to have your say in the way your country is run and women were forbidden to vote at parliamentary elections until 1918 and 1928. Social, Political, Parliamentary Election Key Words Social : includes all aspects of daily life, e.g. work, school, home and in the community. Political: the activities involved in running the country, e.g. The government who have control of the NHS, Schools and the Police Service. Parliamentary elections: votes by the general public to decide who runs the country. e.g. in 2010, the Conservatives and Liberal Party formed a coalition Government and David Cameron was made Prime Minister. Civil Rights Task One. THINK: PAIR: SHARE You have one minute to... THINK about what this term means on your own, and write down your ideas in your student workbook. You have one minute to... PAIR up and discuss together what you think this term means and come up with a definition. SHARE your definitions with the class. Civil Rights Collins Dictionary Definition Personal rights of individual citizens, of equality in social, economic and political rights. Equality: to be treated the same regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, or sexuality 1900 Views of women Many in Victorian society believed that men and women had very different roles. Separate Spheres At the start of the 20th century men and women had very different lives. Business & Trade Politics & Power Money & Finance Law &Order Household Cooking Cleaning Care of Children Women's position in society Women and Employment Work opportunities for women were improving at the start of the 20th century. It was becoming socially acceptable for women to become nurses, teachers and have jobs in clerical work. BUT • Marriage bars in employment meant that once a woman got married they could not keep their job. • Limited access to education meant that women's job were often seen as low skilled and paid less than men even if it was the same job. • Most working women were poorly paid, and worked in poor conditions. Women and Marriage Rights Marriage and Divorce Act, 1857: A woman could divorce her husband if he beat her or committed adultery. BUT • A divorced woman was shunned by society and treated as an outcast. With these obstacles, many women were forced to stay in unhappy marriages. • Divorce was costly and most women could not afford to pay. • Due to restriction in employment women could not afford to look after their families without a male breadwinner. • Women were unlikely to keep their children once divorced. Women, Property and Education Married Woman's Property Act 1882: This law enabled married women to own property and earnings. Before this date everything a woman owned went to her husband upon marriage. Education Women had little access to higher education with only a few universities allowing women to attend. Most women were therefore not educated past the age of 11. A break through in education? Elizabeth Garrett Anderson became the first lady to qualify as a doctor (GP). BUT She then faced huge obstacles making progress in her profession. Men would not go to her simply because she was a woman. Women who needed to see a doctor often stayed with what was known and remained with their male GP. Women's position in politics Women's reform groups Co-operative Women's Guild 1884 Campaigned for women workers rights, divorce reform and better schools and pensions. Ladies Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act. Campaigned for the rights of prostitutes. The police had the power to force any woman suspected of being a prostitute to have an examination to see if they were carrying sexually-transmitted diseases. Men who used prostitutes were not subject to the same treatment. • Reform groups were seen as a threat, and unnatural for women to join and draw attention to themselves publically. • Many articles were written opposing women's reform groups. Campaign: A series of co-ordinated activities for some purpose. Voting Rights • In 1900 the country was run by men. Women had no say on issues they felt related to them, such as divorce rights, better working conditions, and access to education. • Women wanted the vote to gain more power in society. With the vote women and men could support the Party which addressed the issues they wanted changing. • The Liberal Party was the most likely one to bring in female suffrage, but they felt that many middle class women would vote for the Conservative Party. Liberal Party: One of the political parties in Britain. The party was in power in 1900 and its leader was Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman. Primary Source Task • Get in to groups. • Each group has to answer the following questions on the one source in your student workbook: 1) 2) 3) 4) When was it written? Who wrote/created the source? Why was it created/written? What does it say? • You will then present your groups answers to the class. Suffrage: The right to vote in local and parliamentary elections. Lesson Pictionary Parliamentary Elections 1882 Married Women's Property Act The Liberal Party Campaign