eli5 How did women end up getting the vote in England what exactly led up to it?
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There had been campaigns for years by supporters of suffrage and others to have women allowed to vote. This was done by lobbying, protests, hungry strikes in prison, etc etc
Women over 30 with property were granted the vote in 1918.during the years 1914-18 women had stepped up into various roles to support the war effort. Some into factories, others nursing, others logistics , this led to an improvement in the public view of women’s capabilities outside the home and increased acceptance that they could comprehend politics.
https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/
More in depth info here
The women’s suffrage movement, plus World War I. Support grew in the 19th century, because what’s the counter-argument, other than ‘that’s not the way we do things’? Then, when society’s arrangements are all up for grabs, more people are willing to say, ‘yeah, changing that makes sense.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_the_United_Kingdom
Only women of a certain class received the right to vote after WWI, and it was a move calculated to prevent the enfranchisement of working class men from resulting in gains for the political left. Since working class men had been sent to the front, it was no longer possible to deny them suffrage. So universal male suffrage was augmented with suffrage for women with property over a particular amount, with the intention of balancing new working class votes with more propertied votes.
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