'Winning the vote made little difference to women's status in Essay

'Winning the vote made little difference to women's status in political life.' Discuss - Essay Example Discrimination against women was on the rise not only in politics but also in the working places. Most of the top jobs and management positions were held by the men especially in the agricultural farms and other industries. This therefore reflected the wages that were paid to the women and men had big differences. It is because of these discriminations that led to the establishment of women movements to push for their rights and betterment of their lives with regard to the political democracy. The movement for women suffrage played a vital role in the process that led to women winning the vote and increased women representatives in political positions. This process was very important in the history of Britain since it made a turning point in the political arena as it resulted into women being given equal opportunities in political positions and increased diversity of representation. However, this development has not fully transformed the lives of women with regard to politics and the re are still certain levels of suppression against women. This includes discriminations and inequality in works, low wages, gender roles discrimination and lack of equal representation in political positions among other inequalities. The movement for women’s Suffrage as mentioned earlier was very instrumental in this process. It played an important role in the mobilization of women from different parts of the nation as well as different women from low, middle and high class. This movement can be described as the vehicle that was used by the women in their achievement of political democracy and equal opportunities (Lovenduski, 1986). It organized protests across the nation in favor of the rights of women to vote. The efforts of Edwardian ladies during their protests in which they participated in chaotic protests that demanded for the rights of women to vote were very significant in the Britain. Cotton workers especially those from the Lancashire mainly campaigned for the women ’s suffrage movement in the farms, mills as well as within the factories in England. As stated by Ford (1997), women’s suffrage movement was one of the biggest women movements in Britain. However, this movement together with others had their own challenges. During the initial stages of the movement, the major participants were the middle class women together with the other women who worked in the increasing capitalist class. Most of these women were actually involve in the radical campaign for the abolition of slavery, the problems with the Corn Laws, the ruling ideologies among many other ideas that they felt were discriminatory against the women. The ruling ideology during this time provided a clear difference between the men and women in which the men were given the clear control over the women. The married women had to seek directions from their husbands even in political issues that affected their lives and hence remained a property of their husbands. The movement for women’s suffrage was also concerned about the divorce laws that never gave them the opportunity to take control of their lives, property, earnings as well as higher education and advancement in career and professional opportunities. These efforts resulted into women winning some of the rights after the end of that century. Women were given the rights to participate in the voting in the local elections. However, these were restricted to their qualifications and with regard to the property rights. As a result, not all the women participated in the elections but only few who met the qualifications mentioned above. This means that the right to vote was still not open to all women.