BBC NEWS ONLINE: Reality Check: What if women hadn't been allowed to vote?

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Voting behaviour expert Dr Rosalind Shorrocks, from the University of Manchester, says that one of the reasons behind the difference was that women were more religious than men, and also points to the way they were affected by government policies.

"The Conservative Party's post-war anti-rationing stance appealed particularly to housewives who were managing family budgets," she explains.