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‘Does the right hon. Gentleman mean equal votes at 21?’ Conservative women and equal franchise, 1919–1928

ABSTRACT This paper examines the role of Conservative women in the controversial decision by Stanley Baldwin’s Conservative government to support equal franchise, placing it in the context of campaigns by Conservative women inside and outside Parliament between 1919 and 1928. It evaluates the role of female MPs including Nancy Astor and the Duchess of Atholl, Caroline Bridgeman and the Women’s Unionist Organisation, pressure groups and local organisations. It gives an account of the issues debated, including whether the franchise should be equalised at age twenty-five or twenty-one. It sheds light not only on the subject of equal franchise, but also on the relationship between Conservative women and their party in this period.