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Arguments used by the Antis

To us now some of the arguments put forward by the anti-suffragists, known as the Antis, seem unreasonable.  Some of  these arguments included:  
  • By the early part of the 20th century women had already achieved the municipal vote.  These local government bodies dealt with questions of  housing, education, care of children, workhouses and so on.  All of these issues were seen as being peculiarly within a woman's sphere.  Parliament, however, dealt with issues such as the maintenance of the Empire, the Army and Navy.  This was predominantly a man's sphere.  Politics was considered to be too dirty a game for women.
  • The strength of the government lay in its ability to enforce decisions by force but women, owing to their physiology, were obviously not as capable of doing this as men were.  As women were thus not able to fulfill all the roles of citizens it was held they should not be awarded all the privileges of citizenship e.g. the vote.
  • The vast majority of women had no interest in gaining the vote; even famous ones such as Florence Nightingale felt that since they had achieved fulfillment under existing conditions there was no reason to change the law.  
  • Achieving the vote would ultimately mean the possibility of admitting women to Parliament itself.  It was scarcely possible to imagine a women being Minister for War.
  • The effect of introducing a large female element in the Imperial electorate would have been to weaken the image of the centre of power in the eyes of Britain's colonies.
  • The interests of women were perfectly safe in the hands of men.  
  • Women's suffrage was based on the concept of equality.  If this were to truly happen it would destroy chivalrous consideration.
  • Women already exercised indirect influence through their men folk on the politics of Britain.
After the WSPU intensified its campaign of militancy following the failure of the Conciliation Bill in 1910, anti-suffragists were forced to become more organized in order to counter the propaganda and impact of the suffragette campaign.  It may be surprising to learn that the anti-suffragists were not only men.  Queen Victoria said "This mad, wicked folly of Women's Rights with all its attendant horrors, on which my poor feeble sex is bent, forgetting every sense of womanly feelings and propriety."  

In 1908 the Anti-Suffrage Society led by Mary Humphrey Ward was formed. 

In 1911 the Men's League for Opposing Women's Suffrage merged with the Women's League for Opposing Women's Suffrage to create the National League for Opposing Women's Suffrage.  
The male 'alternative establishments' (meaning the trade unions, religious groups and the press) were very divided over the issue of votes for women.  Generally trade unions were hostile to women workers as they created competition for jobs since they were willing to work for less money.  In theory the trade unions should have supported votes for women as this would have meant women would receive equal pay and therefore be less of a threat to men.  Little had been done in practice however.  Although a resolution was passed at the Trade Union Congress in 1884 that favoured votes for women, another resolution that opposed it was passed by the National Union of Miners in 1912.  As for religious groups, the Church of England was ambivalent, whereas Non-Conformists (Protestants outside the Church of England) and Quakers usually gave unqualified support.  The Press was vital in generating publicity and shifting public opinion.  Before the militancy of the WSPU most newspapers disregarded the women's suffrage movement.  Once the militancy escalated the press grew more hostile, describing the suffragettes as mad, bad and dangerous to know.  Some newspapers such as the Lewisham Borough News were sympathetic to women's suffrage but criticized the militant tactics of the WSPU.
The great paradox of the Antis was that the better they organized their campaign against the granting of the suffrage to women the more they disproved their argument that women were incapable of politics.  They never quite managed to square the circle on this!