Women’s Votes and the World Wars

Abstract The prospect that the modern era is more peaceful than at any point in history may seem hard to fathom when considering the events of the twentieth century. How can one make sense of the millions killed in conflict in light of the advance of the supposedly pacifying effects of women’s suffrage over this period? This chapter examines what, if any, influence women’s votes had on three defining episodes of the twentieth century: America’s entry into World War I, Britain’s response to Hitler’s aggression in Czechoslovakia, and the beginning of the end of the Cold War following the U.S. 1984 presidential election. In each case, the chapter shows that women’s votes, motivated by issues of war and peace, affected the political process in meaningful ways even when they did not succeed in preventing war.