‘Women do not count, neither shall they be counted’: Suffrage, Citizenship and the Battle for the 1911 Census

摘要

The 1911 census, released in 2009, is of particular interest to historians. Additional columns recorded for the first time the number of years a woman had been married, her children still living and those who had died. Moreover, the census was taken at a time of heightened political momentum. The Liberal government pushed for ambitious welfare reforms; at the same time, the Votes for Women campaign was growing vigorously. Suffrage organizations decided to boycott the census in protest at women’s exclusion from the franchise.