0:00:17 > 0:00:20To be a woman in 1914 in Britain,
0:00:20 > 0:00:26your life was defined more by what you couldn't do than what you could.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30You couldn't read the lesson, you couldn't preach in church,
0:00:30 > 0:00:32certainly not in the pulpit.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36Indeed, you couldn't hand out the hymnbooks, take the collection,
0:00:36 > 0:00:38or even ring the bells.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42Away from church, if you spoke about women's rights in public,
0:00:42 > 0:00:45you were likely to be jeered, or have stones thrown at you
0:00:45 > 0:00:47not for what you said,
0:00:47 > 0:00:51but for having the temerity to speak in public.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53If you were arrested, it would be by a man -
0:00:53 > 0:00:57all police officers were male.
0:00:57 > 0:01:02Into court, the lawyers, the jury, the judge, all were men.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05It remained very much a man's world.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12For over a decade, women's suffrage campaigners
0:01:12 > 0:01:15had battled to overturn this man's world.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19They argued nothing could change in women's lives
0:01:19 > 0:01:23until they were given the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29Women engaged in campaigns of protest and violence.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31They endured imprisonment and hunger strikes
0:01:31 > 0:01:34to force the men in government to back down.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38Nothing, it seemed, would stop the suffragettes
0:01:38 > 0:01:40until women had the vote.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44But then, Germany invaded Belgium.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50When war was declared in August 1914,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53the suffrage campaigners were faced with a quandary.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57Should they support the men in government, their sworn enemy,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00and suspend their campaign for the vote?
0:02:00 > 0:02:04Something which a few months earlier would've seemed unthinkable.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09The Militant Suffragette Organisation
0:02:09 > 0:02:11was the women's social and political union
0:02:11 > 0:02:15led by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Cristabel.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19Its motto - "Deeds not Words."
0:02:19 > 0:02:23They saw violent action as a necessity
0:02:23 > 0:02:27and they resorted to bombings and arson to get their case heard.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32Many spent time in prison
0:02:32 > 0:02:35and were subjected to brutal treatment and force feeding
0:02:35 > 0:02:39in response to their angry demands for a vote.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41Then the declaration of war intervened.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52Emmeline Pankhurst wasted no time coming to a decision.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54Within days of war being declared,
0:02:54 > 0:02:59she suspended their campaign of militancy with immediate effect.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03The suffrage campaigners showed their new patriotic commitment
0:03:03 > 0:03:05by renaming their newspaper -
0:03:05 > 0:03:10The Suffragette became Britannia and it bore a new motto.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14Instead of "Deeds not Words," it was now -
0:03:14 > 0:03:17"For King, For Country, For Freedom."
0:03:19 > 0:03:22"What is the point of fighting for the vote," asked Mrs Pankhurst,
0:03:22 > 0:03:25"if we have not got a country to vote in?"
0:03:25 > 0:03:26She was a pragmatist.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29Her message to her supporters was clear -
0:03:29 > 0:03:33it was time to transfer their energies to the national cause.
0:03:47 > 0:03:52In December 1914, war came to the Home Front.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55German warships attacked the north-east coast of England,
0:03:55 > 0:04:00targeting Hartlepool and the fashionable resort of Scarborough.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04Scores of civilians were killed, including women and children.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09With women now victims of enemy action,
0:04:09 > 0:04:11like the soldiers in France,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14the rallying cry became "Remember Scarborough!,"
0:04:14 > 0:04:17as scores of upper and middle-class women
0:04:17 > 0:04:20rushed to don uniform in the voluntary organisations.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24or them, it was an unrivalled opportunity
0:04:24 > 0:04:27to get out of the house, to do something useful,
0:04:27 > 0:04:29to gain independence.
0:04:41 > 0:04:42Squad!
0:04:42 > 0:04:43Squad, attention!
0:04:44 > 0:04:49First into action on the Home Front was the aristocracy -
0:04:49 > 0:04:52society ladies, used to using their social clout.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57Their young girls joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Formed before the war, and still going today,
0:05:00 > 0:05:02it now came into its own,
0:05:02 > 0:05:06sending women as ambulance drivers to France.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09Hundreds of other volunteer organisations sprang up,
0:05:09 > 0:05:14such as the Women's Volunteer Reserve, ready to do their bit,
0:05:14 > 0:05:19adopting military-style uniforms to command attention and respect.
0:05:19 > 0:05:24Some did skilled training in the Lady Instructors Signals Company.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27Most, though, were cooking, cleaning and running errands.
0:05:31 > 0:05:32Squad!
0:05:32 > 0:05:34Squad, attention!
0:05:36 > 0:05:38Keeping a watchful eye
0:05:38 > 0:05:41was their Honorary Colonel, Evelina Haverfield.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43Evelina, the daughter of a baron,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46was a determined suffragette veteran -
0:05:46 > 0:05:51in 1910, she was arrested for punching a policeman in the face.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55When charged, she replied, "It was not hard enough.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58"Next time I will bring a revolver".
0:05:58 > 0:06:02Women like her were full of ideas, ready for action.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09The Women's Volunteer Reserve remained resolutely middle-class,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11largely because they had to buy their own uniform,
0:06:11 > 0:06:17which cost more than £2 - a small fortune in 1914.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22Even though there was no suggestion that a woman would ever fight,
0:06:22 > 0:06:25the image of a woman in military-style uniform
0:06:25 > 0:06:27was troubling for many.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32Yet the Women's Volunteer Reserve relished the authority it gave them,
0:06:32 > 0:06:34despite the catcalls and jeers.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36It was distinctive, purposeful
0:06:36 > 0:06:40and very publicly part of the war effort.
0:06:40 > 0:06:41Squad, stand at ease.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47The war brought working class women to the public attention
0:06:47 > 0:06:49in paid, often industrial work,
0:06:49 > 0:06:53that men had left for the front line in France.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56# There came John Bull with his ship so grey
0:06:56 > 0:06:59# And his army fighting far away
0:06:59 > 0:07:02# All the boys have gone
0:07:02 > 0:07:03# So the girls today
0:07:03 > 0:07:07# Carry on with the work in the morning
0:07:11 > 0:07:14# The conductorettes without much fuss
0:07:14 > 0:07:17# Just do their level best for us
0:07:17 > 0:07:20# But they don't push people off the bus
0:07:20 > 0:07:23# When it's raining hard in the morning. #
0:07:23 > 0:07:27Over one million were engaged in war work across Britain.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30# The girls have shown surprising gifts
0:07:30 > 0:07:33# On the railways now they work the lifts
0:07:33 > 0:07:36# If they'd only do the work in shifts
0:07:36 > 0:07:42# They would get such a crowd in the morning. #
0:07:42 > 0:07:44Beautifully illustrated cigarette cards
0:07:44 > 0:07:47celebrated the variety of their work.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52They were doing what had previously been considered solely men's work.
0:07:52 > 0:07:57Getting paid the same as men was out of the question.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00Skilled men feared that their prized status
0:08:00 > 0:08:03would be threatened by unskilled women working alongside them
0:08:03 > 0:08:07doing the same job and being paid less.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11Entrenched attitudes and prejudice were at play.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Men were expected to be the breadwinners, supporting a family.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18Women were thought to have more modest running costs.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21"Tea and toast are cheaper than beer and beefsteaks,"
0:08:21 > 0:08:23said one factory foreman.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26A strong conviction remained that people should be paid
0:08:26 > 0:08:30not for what they did, but for who they were.
0:08:38 > 0:08:39During the First World War,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42many women worked on factory production lines
0:08:42 > 0:08:47assembling planes, tanks and making ammunition for the war effort.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49Crowded together in factories,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52they discovered a new sense of team spirit
0:08:52 > 0:08:55and it worked as well on the football pitch
0:08:55 > 0:08:56as it did on the shop floor.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01Women's football was a novelty, rather shocking.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08Teams from the shipyards, engineering works and munitions
0:09:08 > 0:09:11donned mobcaps and shorts to general amazement.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16Even more than today, many thought, "Women? Playing football?"
0:09:24 > 0:09:28Many men were keen to point out why the women should not play.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31The British Medical Journal was worried about the danger to women's
0:09:31 > 0:09:34"organs which the common experience of women
0:09:34 > 0:09:37"had in every way led them to protect."
0:09:40 > 0:09:44But in 1915, the men's professional game was suspended -
0:09:44 > 0:09:47the trenches had taken both players and officials
0:09:47 > 0:09:49and the women's game flowered.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53Most of the women's games
0:09:53 > 0:09:56were to raise funds for soldiers and their families,
0:09:56 > 0:10:01a Christmas Day Match in 1917, watched by a crowd of 10,000,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04raised £600 for wounded soldiers -
0:10:04 > 0:10:08the equivalent of more than £25,000 today.
0:10:10 > 0:10:11One occasion, the women played men
0:10:11 > 0:10:15who had their hands tied behind their backs as a handicap.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17The keeper was allowed one hand free.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20But usually, the women's teams played each other,
0:10:20 > 0:10:22sometimes with bruising intensity.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27The most successful team in the north-east of England was
0:10:27 > 0:10:30Blyth Spartans Munitions Girls.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35In their first game,
0:10:35 > 0:10:4017-year-old centre-forward Bella Reay scored six goals.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43Bella was the daughter of a local pitman.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45She quickly became the star of the team,
0:10:45 > 0:10:49scoring 133 goals in one season.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52And Blyth Spartans Munitions Girls remained unbeaten
0:10:52 > 0:10:56for the two years they were together.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01She worked in the munitions factory, you know, when she was 17.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04And they decided then that they wanted to do something
0:11:04 > 0:11:05more for the war effort.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08All of the games that they ever did were all for the wounded soldiers -
0:11:08 > 0:11:12all the money they ever made, it was all done for charity.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14Did lots of people come to see them?
0:11:14 > 0:11:20Yes, she played anywhere from crowds of 1,000 up to 20,000 people.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24When your grandmother talked to you about football, what did she say?
0:11:24 > 0:11:28Just how good she was. That was the main thing, you know.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30She said, "I was good, but I knew I was good."
0:11:30 > 0:11:34We will never forget her saying that to us, "Oh, I knew I was good."
0:11:34 > 0:11:38She played in the Munition Girls Cup Final, didn't she?
0:11:38 > 0:11:41- Yes, she did, yes. - That must have been a big match.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44Yes, it was. That was when she got her gold medal.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Which, would you like to have a look at the medal she got?
0:11:50 > 0:11:51Fantastic!
0:11:51 > 0:11:53Beautiful medal, it is.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55How did she do in the final?
0:11:55 > 0:11:59Very well. I think she was the best goal scorer in the final.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02People are surprised now to hear
0:12:02 > 0:12:05that girls played football at that time.
0:12:05 > 0:12:06What do you think of that?
0:12:06 > 0:12:08Well when because when they go on about it,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11I say, "Well, my grandma played nearly 100 years ago,"
0:12:11 > 0:12:15and we're very, very proud that we are part of history, really,
0:12:15 > 0:12:19you know because she was very, very well-known in her time.
0:12:19 > 0:12:20Everybody knew her -
0:12:20 > 0:12:24"Whoa, Bella", that was what they used to shout, "Away, Bella!"
0:12:24 > 0:12:27You know that that's the thing, and it's lovely really to think
0:12:27 > 0:12:30that we are part of a little bit of history.
0:12:34 > 0:12:39By 1921 the Football Association had had enough
0:12:39 > 0:12:43and it banned the women from playing on their grounds,
0:12:43 > 0:12:47saying, "The game of football is quite unsuitable for females
0:12:47 > 0:12:50"and ought not to be encouraged."
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Women's football, like so much else,
0:12:52 > 0:12:56was only tolerable for the duration of the war.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11During the First World War,
0:13:11 > 0:13:15many working class women had their first taste of social freedom.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19Instead of being at home under father's watchful eye,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22they discovered the forerunner of girl's night out.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27The press went into overdrive, with stories of
0:13:27 > 0:13:32"giddy factory girls" frittering money in pubs with men.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34The Aberdeen Journal reported that they had
0:13:34 > 0:13:38"more money in their hands than usual, and there were only too many
0:13:38 > 0:13:41"ready to help them to spend it in the wrong way."
0:13:45 > 0:13:49The munitionettes were experiencing a liberation they hadn't expected.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51They were aping their betters -
0:13:51 > 0:13:54out and about, with a little money to spend.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57Traditionalists were outraged.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Not for the first time in the war, there was a bout of moral panic.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02Women were getting out of control.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12More worldy-wise women, such as Margaret Damer Dawson,
0:14:12 > 0:14:17set out to protect women, as well as cautioning their behaviour.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21Dawson approached the Commissioner of Police in London for permission
0:14:21 > 0:14:26to create a voluntary body of trained and uniformed police women.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30He declared himself "not at all averse to the idea,"
0:14:30 > 0:14:33as long as they remained separate from his force.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35The result was the foundation
0:14:35 > 0:14:40of Britain's first Women's Police Service, the WPS.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42Margaret Damer Dawson was a tough character.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45Her friends called her "Fighting Dawson."
0:14:45 > 0:14:48Her first recruits were mainly educated middle-class women,
0:14:48 > 0:14:52trained in first aid and a little jujitsu.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55But they faced a battle to be taken seriously by the men.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57One male police officer,
0:14:57 > 0:15:01when asked if women would ever be police constables,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04laughed and said "No, not if the war lasts 50 years".
0:15:07 > 0:15:10The WPS were not granted the power of arrest
0:15:10 > 0:15:14and were expected to deal solely with women and children.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18Most male constables thought that Dawson's "Copperettes,"
0:15:18 > 0:15:22as the Sussex Times called them, should be deployed only
0:15:22 > 0:15:26to protect Britain's men from the temptations of women.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Dawson's patrols were not popular with the women they policed.
0:15:29 > 0:15:34One 14-year-old girl said she'd been told off for crimping her hair,
0:15:34 > 0:15:36and "dressing up and walking about
0:15:36 > 0:15:39"in order to attract the attention of men."
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Many men disliked having to deal with women,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49especially in the factories,
0:15:49 > 0:15:53where huge numbers now worked making munitions.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56Many of the women were rowdy and tough.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58When disputes arose,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01managers, more used to obedient wives and daughters,
0:16:01 > 0:16:04had no idea what to do.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08The Prime Minister, David Lloyd George,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11turned to Margaret Damer Dawson's women police.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14He deployed nearly 1,000 of them
0:16:14 > 0:16:18to keep order in the munitions factories.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23Policewoman Gabrielle West kept a diary describing her experiences.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27Her initial impressions of the workers
0:16:27 > 0:16:31at the Pembrey Munitions Factory in South Wales were not favourable.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34"They are full of socialistic theory
0:16:34 > 0:16:36"and very great on getting up strikes.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40"But they are easily influenced by a little oratory,
0:16:40 > 0:16:44"and go back to work like lambs when you shout at them long enough."
0:16:44 > 0:16:48Rather than being a social leveller, as it's often portrayed,
0:16:48 > 0:16:50life in the munitions factories
0:16:50 > 0:16:53relied on the class system to maintain law and order.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59Within weeks of the war ending,
0:16:59 > 0:17:02the Metropolitan Police announced plans to train women
0:17:02 > 0:17:05to become paid constables for the first time.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09What followed was humiliation for Margaret Damer Dawson.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12Her well-trained and capable volunteers
0:17:12 > 0:17:14were rejected as candidates -
0:17:14 > 0:17:19resented by male constables as too well educated and confident.
0:17:19 > 0:17:24As a final blow, Dawson was ordered to wind down the WPS.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30Margaret Damer Dawson died in 1920, aged 45
0:17:30 > 0:17:35of a heart attack, it was said, brought on by the hostility
0:17:35 > 0:17:39she faced from the male police establishment.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42She'd tried so hard to gain acceptance.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44Just before she died,
0:17:44 > 0:17:47she got to the heart of the problem of policing women.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49"In the realm of morals,"
0:17:49 > 0:17:53she said, "we have not advanced beyond Adam and Eve."
0:18:02 > 0:18:05Machine guns and artillery in the First World War
0:18:05 > 0:18:07caused terrible injuries.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15Wounded men were coming home in overwhelming numbers
0:18:15 > 0:18:18in urgent need of medical attention.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Britain's small band of professional nurses were joined by
0:18:21 > 0:18:26nursing assistants from the Voluntary Aid Detachment - the VADs.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37Across the country, public buildings and private residences were
0:18:37 > 0:18:42offered up or commandeered for use as auxiliary hospitals.
0:18:42 > 0:18:48In 1917, Lady Stamford offered Dunham Massey to the Red Cross.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53Her daughter, Lady Jane Grey, worked here as a VAD.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56It could be grisly work,
0:18:56 > 0:19:00with the operating table tucked in next to the grand staircase.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05Lady Jane remembered helping remove a bullet from a soldier's brain.
0:19:07 > 0:19:12"I was given the job of shining a torch into the hole
0:19:12 > 0:19:15"once they'd made the hole in the brain,
0:19:15 > 0:19:17"and so I held the torch in front
0:19:17 > 0:19:20"and saw the bullet being extracted by the surgeon.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23"It was very interesting."
0:19:25 > 0:19:28By 1918, more than 70,000 VADs
0:19:28 > 0:19:32had played a crucial part in the war effort.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35In a man's world, they were the perfect women -
0:19:35 > 0:19:41volunteers, not wanting equal pay and not demanding a new kind of job.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44Theirs was the traditional caring role -
0:19:44 > 0:19:49they were non-threatening - plucky, but lovable.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51Women doctors, on the other hand,
0:19:51 > 0:19:53evoked a very different kind of response.
0:19:56 > 0:19:57Before the war,
0:19:57 > 0:20:02qualified female doctors treated only women and children.
0:20:02 > 0:20:07But the war gave two pioneering women the chance to change that -
0:20:07 > 0:20:11Flora Murray, and Louisa Garrett Anderson,
0:20:11 > 0:20:15the daughter of the first woman to qualify as a doctor in Britain.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19Together, they now founded the Women's Hospital Corps.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24After watching them successfully run hospitals in France,
0:20:24 > 0:20:26the British War Office gritted its teeth
0:20:26 > 0:20:30and offered them a large military hospital with over 500 beds
0:20:30 > 0:20:34in Endell Street, London.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37They accepted immediately, and revealed their growing confidence
0:20:37 > 0:20:41by insisting it must be entirely staffed by women.
0:20:41 > 0:20:46New staff were told that skill levels acceptable from a man
0:20:46 > 0:20:48would not be accepted from a woman.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50They had to do better.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00They laid special emphasis on getting the men recovered psychologically
0:21:00 > 0:21:03from the traumas they'd seen.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05And every effort was made
0:21:05 > 0:21:11to make the atmosphere of these rather grim buildings congenial.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15The courtyard had flowers regularly tended by the gardeners,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18the wards had fresh flowers in them,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21changed regularly by a team of volunteers.
0:21:21 > 0:21:27There were sports days, there were demonstrations by champion boxers.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30It was a very varied programme of entertainment.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34The hospital did have the word suffragette attached to it?
0:21:34 > 0:21:39Yes, it did, because Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson
0:21:39 > 0:21:43had been very prominent in Mrs Pankhurst's organisation.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47Flora Murray was actually Mrs Pankhurst's personal physician
0:21:47 > 0:21:49and Anderson had spent time in Holloway,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52having thrown a brick through a window.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55So they were well-known and many, many of their staff
0:21:55 > 0:21:58were also supporters of the suffrage movement.
0:21:58 > 0:22:04But these women had shown themselves capable of running a hospital,
0:22:04 > 0:22:06a large military hospital,
0:22:06 > 0:22:10they'd shown themselves to be capable of treating
0:22:10 > 0:22:13really very serious medical and surgical problems,
0:22:13 > 0:22:16and of successfully treating male patients,
0:22:16 > 0:22:20and this was something that had not been proved before.
0:22:20 > 0:22:21And what is more,
0:22:21 > 0:22:25they had shown that it would happen without civilisation collapsing.
0:22:28 > 0:22:33More than 26,000 men were treated at Endell Street Military Hospital.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36Many needed major surgery.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40In 1917, in recognition of their pioneering work,
0:22:40 > 0:22:45both Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson were awarded CBEs.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50The legacy of Endell Street
0:22:50 > 0:22:53is that men could be treated by women doctors.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57Only one patient ever said he wouldn't be treated by a female.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00And after a few days, he changed his mind,
0:23:00 > 0:23:04and asked his mother if he'd be allowed to stay a little longer.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06"The whole hospital is a triumph for women,"
0:23:06 > 0:23:08wrote another patient home.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12"Incidentally, it is a triumph for suffragettes."
0:23:27 > 0:23:29As the First World War neared its end,
0:23:29 > 0:23:33women were involved in almost every area of life on the Home Front.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38But Britain's women were still denied the right to vote -
0:23:38 > 0:23:43the very issue that sat at the heart of the suffragettes' campaigning.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45Deep within the all-male Parliament,
0:23:45 > 0:23:47there existed a place which
0:23:47 > 0:23:50epitomised the status of women in public life -
0:23:50 > 0:23:51the Ladies' Gallery.
0:23:56 > 0:23:57The original Ladies' Gallery
0:23:57 > 0:24:00was destroyed by bombing in the Second World War,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03but today's press gallery occupies a similar position.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09It was a cramped space, hot and stuffy.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13And there was a metal lattice grille which obstructed the view
0:24:13 > 0:24:15of the House of Commons below.
0:24:15 > 0:24:16Though it was originally installed
0:24:16 > 0:24:21so that the men below would not be distracted by the ladies above.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25The suffragettes regarded it as a symbolic cage
0:24:25 > 0:24:28which separated them from the business of politics.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35In 1908, suffrage campaigners padlocked themselves to the
0:24:35 > 0:24:41gallery's grille in protest at their exclusion from Parliament.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44The grille was removed with the women still attached.
0:24:44 > 0:24:49After their release, it was immediately reinstalled
0:24:49 > 0:24:53and there it remained, physically and symbolically excluding women
0:24:53 > 0:24:54from the world of politics.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59Before the war, Winston Churchill argued that
0:24:59 > 0:25:04"women are well represented by their fathers, brothers and husbands."
0:25:05 > 0:25:08But many of those men were overseas now
0:25:08 > 0:25:10and potentially ineligible to vote.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16The Government contemplated changing the law on voting qualifications.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20And the suffrage campaigners scented a chance
0:25:20 > 0:25:23to press their case to include women.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29The new Prime Minister was David Lloyd George.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32He offered a more sympathetic ear to the campaigners -
0:25:32 > 0:25:37no-one knew better what invaluable work they'd done in the factories.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Emmeline Pankhurst was pragmatic.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43She urged him to speed the legislation and said,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46"Whatever can be passed in war circumstances,
0:25:46 > 0:25:48"we are ready to accept."
0:25:50 > 0:25:52On the 19th of June 1917,
0:25:52 > 0:25:55the Ladies' Gallery was packed with women
0:25:55 > 0:25:59eager to hear the Commons debating a new bill -
0:25:59 > 0:26:02The Representation of the People.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06Even the most optimistic couldn't have predicted
0:26:06 > 0:26:08the outcome of the vote.
0:26:09 > 0:26:1255 against...
0:26:12 > 0:26:16385 in favour.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19The tide had finally turned.
0:26:22 > 0:26:27The Representation of the People Act became law in 1918.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30It granted the vote to women over 30 who were householders
0:26:30 > 0:26:33or the wives of householders, or graduates.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39The First World War had delivered a partial victory for Britain's women.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42There's no escaping the fact that MPs saw
0:26:42 > 0:26:46the vote for women as a prize rather than as a right.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48As one woman put it,
0:26:48 > 0:26:51"rather like a biscuit given to a performing dog
0:26:51 > 0:26:55"that has just done its tricks particularly well".
0:26:55 > 0:26:58The majority of the women who worked in the factories
0:26:58 > 0:27:03were under 30 and not householders, so they remained without a vote.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13One reminder of that tumultuous time is hidden away
0:27:13 > 0:27:17in the basement of the Houses of Parliament.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22A few weeks after the vote, the notorious grille
0:27:22 > 0:27:26which had caged in women in the Ladies' Gallery was quietly removed.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33Here's a section of it -
0:27:33 > 0:27:37a symbol of the struggle by women to achieve their rights.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41BELLS PEAL
0:27:44 > 0:27:47Fighting officially ended across Western Europe
0:27:47 > 0:27:51on 11th of November 1918.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55For many women war workers, the celebrations were short-lived.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59The government encouraged them to return to their traditional roles
0:27:59 > 0:28:03as mothers and wives, relinquishing the independence tolerated
0:28:03 > 0:28:05during the war.
0:28:06 > 0:28:11A Ministry of Labour leaflet made clear the Government's position.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14"A call comes again to the women of Britain,
0:28:14 > 0:28:17"a call happily not to make shells
0:28:17 > 0:28:21"but to help renew the homes of England, to sew and to mend,
0:28:21 > 0:28:24"to cook and to clean
0:28:24 > 0:28:28"and to rear babies in health and happiness."
0:28:29 > 0:28:33But now women from all backgrounds had experienced
0:28:33 > 0:28:37a taste of public life and held their own in the workplace.
0:28:37 > 0:28:42Their own lives had become entwined with national events.
0:28:42 > 0:28:47Having proved what they could do for the duration of the war,
0:28:47 > 0:28:51they emerged to press the case that they always should do it
0:28:51 > 0:28:55and continue the struggle for fairness and equality.