A poster created in 1910 to support the suffrage movement.

I wonder, Mr Editor, Why I can’t have the vote; And I will not be contented Till I’ve found the reason out. I am a working woman. My voting half is dead. I hold a house and want to know Why I can’t vote instead. I pay my rates in person, Under protest tho’ ‘tis true; But I pay them, and am qualified To vote as well as you. Part of a poem written by Sarah Ann Jackson, published in the Leeds Express on 4 March 1868. With regard to the differences between men and women, those who wish for enfranchisement of women have no wish to disregard them or make little of them. If men and women were exactly alike, the representation of men would represent us. This difference between women and men, instead of being a reason against their enfranchisement, seems to me to be the strongest possible reason in favour of it. From Millicent Fawcett in a pamphlet, Home and Politics, in the nineteenth century. Why women want the vote: BECAUSE no race or class, or sex can have its interests properly safeguarded in the legislature of a country unless it is represented by direct suffrage. BECAUSE politics and economics go hand in hand. And so long as woman has no political status she will be the ‘bottom dog’ wage earner. BECAUSE all the more important and lucrative positions are barred to them, and opportunities of public service are denied. From a letter produced by the NUWSS in 1907.

A cartoon entitled ‘an ugly rush’ from Punch magazine in May 1870. This leaflet was produced by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) in July 1913. A cartoon entitled ‘an ugly rush’ from Punch magazine in May 1870. Suffrage means those people allowed by law to vote in government elections. In the early Victorian period, women were not allowed to vote. It was assumed, by men, that women simply would not be able to understand the voting process. On 20th May 1867 parliament discussed the idea of allowing women to vote for the first time but the majority of MPs did not want to allow women to vote. An extract from www.historylearningsite.co.uk

SOURCE ACCORDING TO THIS SOURCE, WHY DO WOMEN WANT SUFFRAGE? HOW USEFUL IS THIS SOURCE IN YOUR ENQUIRY? A B C D E F G