The Suffragettes In Australia

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In 1893, New Zealand was the first self governing country to grant women the right to vote, a year later the colony of South Australia granted women the same. During the period of 1848 - 1914 - pre WW1 - the rights for women were fought for, with some outcomes being positive and others not too successful. The campaigners were mainly the middle-class women. The Married Women 's Property Acts of 1870, 1874 and 1882 were acts of Parliament that gave women the opportunity to legally own money that they had went and earned and thus meaning they could go out and inherit houses. Women, stereotypically were housewives - they cooked, they cleaned and nurtured and cared for their young ones. Before WW1 that was the role of the typical Women, they where in the household doing these chores whilst the man was out working and providing for the family. Women also weren 't in education so they didn’t get taught vital information or how to vote as they weren‘t taught politics, this meaning they were ignorant in terms of not knowing about voting systems or how to vote. Suffragettes were a women’s movement organisation that came around in the late 19th and early 20th Century, commonly …show more content…

The suffragettes helped women get the vote as they where in the public media a lot, and they showed women to be courageous and high-lightened their bravery for example the Emily Davison case. They were being sympathised with by surrounding countries. However, some historians could argue they didn 't help as it also showed women to be violent, and not trustworthy to be granted with the vote. Furthermore, WW1 helped women get the vote as it showed women were now valued as they where involved in munitions - making weapons for the men at war. They took on men’s jobs such as Police force, Army, Bus and Tram Drivers. However, it was mostly women under the age of 30 doing all the jobs and they weren 't granted the vote

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