"let women be what God intended, a helpmate for man, but with totally different duties and vocations." 

Why did the campaign for women's suffrage begin in the 1860s?

From 1850 women gained educational, civil and political equality. Politically 1869 – Municipal Franchise Act gave single women the right to vote in local elections. 1870-1894 – women are allowed to be elected to school boards, poor law guardianship, parish and district councils. 1870 Married Women’s Property Acts meant husbands no longer owned their property. Women were able to sue for desertion without going to the workhouse. Education and Work 1870 Education Act ( 1872 Scotland) assured girls the same basic education as boys. 1876 Medical schools opened their doors to women and in 1878 London university opened all its degrees to women. 1871 Newnham College Cambridge was founded. Women could attend Cambridge. Better education gave women more employment opportunities in civil service, post office and private business. 1860 Nightingale School of Nursing helped make nursing a proper profession. 1888 Match Girls Strike – women won better working conditions.

Generally historians agree that the it was in the 1850s and 60s that “first wave feminism” emerged. Groups of women (mainly upper and middle class women) began to rebel against their exclusion from the public sphere and to campaign for greater equality with men.

We can see the origins of this movement in a number of areas. “ I realise that the ideas in my book ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Women’ will shock many people. However, I believe that I have only written the truth to which the majority are blind – that women deserve equal rights as men. Unless that is so then they will be wasted creatures in this world.” MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT.

Radical male speakers such as Henry Hunt, were amongst the first to champion the campaign for women’s rights. 1832 REFORM ACT. I put it to Parliament to include the following amendment in their 1832 Reform Act: “ Women should be entitled to the vote on the same terms as men.”

Similarly, women had been actively involved in the Chartist movements of the 1840s and 1850s. This was a movement that tried to extend the right to vote to wider sectors of the population. However, these women were principally concerned with campaigning for universal male suffrage as it was hoped that this would benefit the family as a whole. Gaining the vote might bring improvements in pay and working conditions, which would improve general lifestyles.

So, why was it that in the 1850s and 60s we can really see the feminist movement taking shape as a campaign and enjoying far more discussion on the political agenda?

The work of groups such as the Ladies of Langham Place. WHY THE 1860s?? Improved educational opportunities for women. Support from influential male politicians. Many female campaigners came from nonconformist backgrounds that encouraged reform. They also had links with radical politicians. Women were encouraged to push for change following the increased extension of the male franchise.

There were increased educational opportunities for women, especially the upper and middle classes. This created a new and growing group of women who felt increasingly frustrated with the inequalities they faced. They had the motivation and the skills to effect change.

The background of many female campaigners had been nonconformist eg The background of many female campaigners had been nonconformist eg. Quaker or Unitarian. These religions encouraged reform and were closely linked with the radical wing of the Liberal Party. For example, Millicent Fawcett (future leader of the suffragist movement) was married to the Liberal minister Henry Fawcett.

We know that there were significant reforms in women’s lives during the years 1850-80. Much of this work was pioneered by women associated with the Langham Place Group. They achieved breakthroughs in the following areas: education; local government; the medical profession and sexual morality. Different women would focus on improving a single issue. The group developed out of Barbara Leigh Smith’s campaign for married women’s property rights and met here, at Langham Place in London.

The Ladies of Langham Place also benefited from the support of a number of male politicians. It was through sympathisers such as John Stuart Mill and Jacob Bright that the issue of female suffrage was launched and re-launched onto the parliamentary agenda. John Stuart Mill proposed an amendment to the Parliamentary Reform Bill of 1867 which would have granted the vote to women on equal terms as men had it been accepted. He also published The Subjection of Women in 1869 which said that women could not rely on male voters to represent their interests. This had to be done by women themselves from within Parliament.

In 1832 the First Reform Act had granted the vote to middle-class male property owners. During the years of the Chartist campaigns this remained the case.

By the mid 1860s the political situation was shifting By the mid 1860s the political situation was shifting. In 1866 GLADSTONE introduced a bill to extend the franchise to a limited number of working class men. He failed due to resistance within his own party. In 1867 a leading Conservative, DISRAELI, again tried to reform the voting system. The issue had been truly reopened.

Women were now encouraged to place their own demands for voting rights Women were now encouraged to place their own demands for voting rights. When male householders in the countryside were granted the vote in 1884, this spurred them on even more! “ If male householders can vote, why not female householders? If working class men can vote, why not the female teachers who taught them how to fill in their ballot forms? If farm labourers, why not the farming widows who employed them?”

THIS IS THE COMBINATION OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL FACTORS THAT LED TO THE EMERGENCE OF THE FEMALE SUFFRAGE CAMPAIGN IN THE 1860s.