Free Sample Essays > Sociology
Why did a campaign for women's suffrage develop in the years after 1870
calculated to destroy the respect and admiration with which the opposite sex is regarded.’
Though only a tiny minority of women became professional, it made it clear that women had enough intelligence and dedication to do so providing that they were given the opportunity to.
Suffrage therefore becomes more relevant as when women are representing a growing proportion of the workforce there seems to be a greater need for their representation in politics.
Education is obviously a vital factor for women to achieve a higher status, have more understanding of the world outside the home and have better employment opportunities.
In the seventeenth century it became increasingly fashionable for girls in richer of middle-class families to be taught to read and write by a teacher at home, although schools were mainly just for boys.
In 1858 Dorothea Beale became principal of Cheltenham Ladies College. At the time the school had only a moderate reputation but under Beale's leadership it became one of the most highly regarded schools in the country. The traditional education of girls had emphasised the development of accomplishments such as music and drawing. Beale, however, was determined to provide a much more academic education. She said, ‘I wish women to be educated not so they can have power over men, but so that they can have power over themselves’, meaning that she wanted women to be able to make their own decisions and become more independent. Dorothea Beale used her success at Cheltenham Ladies College to demonstrate what a good school could achieve.
In 1870 the government made school compulsory for boys and girls under ten. At first attendance was bad, as most children had to work at home so in 1880 the government passed new laws meant that parents had to send their children to school. Giving girls a basic education gave them freedom to go into a skilled, or partly- skilled job, or at least, although schools through a basic education girls were given a grounding which would otherwise have not been available. For those who wished to continue to further education.
Anti- suffragists had often used the excuse of women’s weak intellect as a reason for why they should not be involved in politics, however a growing number of intelligent, well-educated women disproved this argument.
The 1870 Education Act allowed women to vote and serve on School Boards, giving them more say in the system they were now part of.
In the home women achieved much greater freedom after 1870: in 1870 and 1882 the Married Women’s Property Act allowed women to keep their own property and income, this made it more possible for them to work. The Act of 1878 made it legal for a woman who was separated from her husband to claim child maintenance. In 1882 it was made illegal for a husband to force his wife to stay in his home against her will, both indirectly gave women more power after 1870.
Each law lessened men’s power over their wives, and therefore [next page]