Women in British Politics, c.1689-1979 by Krista Cowman

Women in British Politics, c.1689-1979 by Krista Cowman

Author:Krista Cowman [Cowman, Krista]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, Great Britain, General, Modern, 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century, Political Science, Political Process, Social Science, Women's Studies
ISBN: 9781137267856
Google: -SYdBQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Macmillan International Higher Education
Published: 2010-12-09T04:18:27+00:00


Part 3

Women’s Politics after the Vote

7

Women Members of Parliament

Introduction

The Representation of the People Act of 1918 redefined the political status of British women. Their involvement in formal party-political structures had altered throughout the nineteenth century as parties responded to the demands of industrialisation, an expanding electorate and a rise in contested elections. Women had played an important role in shaping party responses through their work in auxiliary organisations, or, if they were socialists, also as equal members. The numbers of women involved in local government grew and their involvement became more formalised as the state took over many of their traditional charitable and philanthropic roles. During the First World War, government increasingly expected women to pay a role in administration and set up bodies such as the Central Committee for the Employment of Women to enable this. Yet despite suffragists’ best efforts, Parliament remained closed to women.

In 1918 this changed. The Representation of the People Act enfranchised women aged over 30 provided they occupied (or were married to the occupier of) property with an annual value of not less than £5. Women graduates could also vote for candidates for the combined universities constituencies. The 1918 Act fell short of the total equality that suffragists had demanded. It did not deliver votes for women on the same terms that they were given to men. All men over 21 (younger if they had served in the war) now had a vote regardless of their property-owning status. Young women, and many older ones who were unmarried or working class, remained disenfranchised. The women’s movement kept up a strong campaign for full political equality until 1928, when women were finally awarded the vote on the same terms as men. By this point there were already a small number of women sitting in Parliament as MPs. Women, in theory, were now equal citizens fully integrated into the British polity and able to become part of the party elite. In practice, feminist campaigners were to find that the transformation of British politics which they had predicted would follow the women’s votes remained elusive.

This chapter describes the experiences of women MPs in Parliament. It explores selection procedures and party attitudes to question why so few women succeeded in being elected, as well as considering whether those who did considered themselves to be representing their sex as well as their chosen party.

The first election attempts

It was not immediately clear that the Representation of the People Act allowed women to stand as parliamentary candidates. When the question was raised, responses were as strongly polarised as they had been over women’s suffrage. Anti-suffragists had long argued that women MPs were the logical conclusion to women’s votes, and had predicted that dire consequences would follow from any feminisation of parliamentary systems. The prime minister denied that the Act changed anything in regard to women’s candidacy. This worried feminist observers who had always wanted to see women representing women. Eleanor Rathbone feared that the government was appeasing anti-suffrage opinion by delaying women MPs, so that full political equality ‘would probably be a generation in coming’.



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