Lesson Y8-U05-L02

Y8-U05-L02 Why Couldn't Women Vote Quiz: KS3 History, Unit 11

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y8-U05-L02, Why Couldn't Women Vote: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 History (National Curriculum), Unit 11: Year 8: Suffrage, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What was the Victorian idea of 'separate spheres'?

    • The belief that voting should be split into two separate days for men and women
    • The belief that men and women belonged in different worlds and roles
    • The belief that the government should be divided between Parliament and the monarch
    • The belief that every family should own a separate house on its own land

  2. What did the 'public sphere' mean in Victorian thinking?

    • Factories and mines, where women were forbidden to work at any time
    • Work, business, law and politics, which was said to be the man's world
    • The home, children and caring for the sick, which was said to be the woman's world
    • Churches and schools, which were run by the government for every family

  3. What was the 'private sphere' said to be?

    • Parliament, the courts and the army, which were run by men alone
    • Public parks and libraries, which were open to everyone each day
    • Factories and mills, where both men and women worked side by side
    • The home, children and caring, which was said to be the woman's world

  4. What was the 'angel in the house'?

    • A painting of a woman who had led a famous revolt against the government
    • A nickname for the wives of MPs who campaigned for votes for women
    • A popular Victorian phrase for the perfect, gentle wife who cared for the home
    • A law that required every household to employ a servant from the village

  5. When did Queen Victoria reign?

    • From 1901 to 1914
    • From 1760 to 1820
    • From 1837 to 1901
    • From 1815 to 1830

  6. Which poem of 1854 celebrated the ideal of the gentle, home-loving woman?

    • The Factory Bell
    • The Angel in the House
    • Rule Britannia
    • The People's Charter

  7. Which argument against votes for women claimed they were too gentle and emotional for politics?

    • Women were unable to read the names of the candidates on the ballot paper
    • Women were naturally unsuited to politics and to the rough world of voting
    • Women were the only group who wanted the vote in the nineteenth century
    • Women had already been given the vote in every local council in Britain

  8. Before 1918, what did a person usually need to own in order to vote?

    • A horse and a cart
    • Property
    • A licence from the local church
    • A medal from the army

  9. Under the law at the time, what happened to a married woman's property?

    • It was given to the local church to look after
    • It legally belonged to her husband
    • It was shared equally between the couple and their children
    • It was controlled by the government until her children came of age

  10. What did the argument 'they are represented already' claim?

    • Women could vote in local elections, so they did not need national votes
    • Women had their own constituency in the House of Lords
    • Women were represented in Parliament by a special group of women MPs
    • A husband or father voted on behalf of the whole household, including the women

  11. What did the argument 'they don't want it' claim?

    • Women had asked Parliament to keep the property rules in place
    • Women had decided that politics was too dangerous for their families
    • Women had already voted to give up the right to vote in 1832
    • Most women were not interested in voting anyway

  12. Why was the property argument described as a 'circular trap'?

    • The property rules were circular buildings that had been built to house MPs
    • Men wrote the property rules and then used those rules to say women could not vote
    • The property rules changed every year, so no one knew who could vote
    • The property rules were copied from a circular document that was never printed

  13. A Victorian says women belong in the home, so they have no need to vote. Which argument is this?

    • Women are naturally unsuited to politics because they are too emotional
    • They are represented already by their husbands and fathers
    • Most women do not want to vote and never have
    • A woman's place is the home, so she has no need to vote

  14. Which fact best challenges the claim that women were too delicate for politics?

    • Millions of working-class women did hard public work in factories and mines
    • Women were paid less than men, so they were not interested in money
    • Women read political books but were not allowed to join the debate
    • Most women of the time lived in the country and never went to a town

  15. Who wrote in 1865 that the gentle, home-loving woman was a model to be admired?

    • John Ruskin
    • Coventry Patmore
    • Emmeline Pankhurst
    • Millicent Fawcett

  16. Who wrote the poem 'The Angel in the House' in 1854?

    • John Ruskin
    • Olaudah Equiano
    • Emmeline Pankhurst
    • Coventry Patmore

  17. Why is the Point, Evidence, Explain method useful when writing about women and voting?

    • It means you only need to write about the views of one single MP
    • It allows you to avoid giving any evidence at all in your answer
    • It shows how an argument kept women from voting, rather than just naming it
    • It allows you to skip the explanation and move straight to the conclusion

  18. Which statement best explains why the two most common arguments came from 'separate spheres'?

    • Both assumed that property was the only thing that mattered for the country
    • Both assumed that women were stronger than men in every public activity
    • Both assumed that Parliament should be run by women and the House of Lords
    • Both assumed that politics was the man's world and the home was the woman's

  19. A poster in 1900 says women are 'too emotional' for politics. What should a historian ask first?

    • Who made this claim, and what evidence supports it or is it just an opinion?
    • Whether the poster was signed by the Prime Minister of the day
    • Whether the poster was printed in colour or in black and white
    • Which newspaper printed the poster and what it cost to buy

  20. Why was 'separate spheres' described as an opinion dressed up as a fact?

    • It was an assumption about gender roles presented as natural, though many people accepted it
    • It was an idea that only the working classes believed in during the 1850s
    • It was a scientific fact that had been tested by Victorian doctors and proved true
    • It was a law passed by Parliament that every citizen had to obey

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