In Britain, the Conservative Party’s substantial parliamentary majorities were likely undergirded by the women’s vote. Twenty years later, on the brink of the Second World War, the surprise was how little women’s suffrage had disturbed the status quo, either at home or abroad. “Institutions as well as ideas will have to be re-sorted.” An “avalanche of women has been hurled into the political chaos,” he wrote. The death of the family! The destruction of morality! After most British women over the age of 30 won the vote, in 1918, the Liberal politician and diplomat Lord Esher saw a watershed moment at hand. A Greek chorus of “antis” foretold a different future. It would end poverty, and wars, too! So promised Britain’s militant suffragists, envisioning a civilization in which the patriarchy was upended and society’s evils were largely vanquished. W omen’s-suffrage campaigners and their equally adamant opponents were in full agreement on one fundamental point: Giving women the vote would change everything. This article was published online on December 20, 2020. Illustration by Valerie Chiang images from Hulton Archive / Shel Hershorn / Gado / Getty Associated Press
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