2. Other countries
Various countries gave women the
right to vote before Britain –
including many which were
members of the British Empire:
• New Zealand, 1893
• Australia, 1902
• Canada (some areas), 1916
Other countries to do so included
Norway and Latvia.
3. Other countries
Britain was the head of a
global empire – and yet its
member countries were
more advanced in terms of
women’s voting rights.
Britain may have given
women the vote in order to
maintain leadership, and
also because British
women were angry at
these differences.
4. Other countries
Although some countries gave
women the vote before 1918, many
did not do so until after Britain.
These included France (1944), the
USA (1920) and Spain (1931).
This undermines the view that
Britain felt pressured by global
changes to give women the vote.
5. Support from overseas
Emmeline Pankhurst travelled to
the USA and used these trips to
raise funds to support the
British campaign.
Early editions of the Women’s
Suffrage Journal included
stories about suffrage speeches
given by women in New
Zealand. This highlights that
British women were aware of
overseas activities.
6. Kate Shepherd
Kate Shepherd was born in
Liverpool and later moved to New
Zealand. She became a leader of
the women’s suffrage movement.
In 1908 she travelled to Britain and
met with women’s suffrage
leaders, to discuss campaigns.
She was also involved in a 1916
petition to encourage the NZ
government to lobby the British
government about women’s votes.
7. Other countries
British women were inspired
by the campaigns and
success that other women
had, which encouraged them
to continue their fight.
Also, funds that were raised
in other countries were
important to allowing
women’s groups to be able to
be able to campaign.
8. Other countries
However many other countries
that gave women the vote did
so without conditions, whereas
Britain did include limits (at
first, women had to be aged
30+ to vote).
This is further evidence that
overseas countries’ general
influence on Britain voting is
limited.
