Their presence in the early years of the movement cannot be questioned. In the opposition to the Poor Law, in the early demonstrations, processions and social organisations of all kinds they played a central part. Somewhere around the mid forties, however, the nature of their participation changes. The number of women in the Chartist crowd seem to diminish, the rough confrontational action which occurs in the early years disappears.

Perhaps the women were gaining a changed perception of themselves and their social role. Such activities as smoking and drinking, indulged in when funds permitted in early industrial communities, became increasingly frowned upon as relaxations for women. The growth of temperance, the increasing attempt to reclaim the working population for organised Christianity, and the spread of 'provided' education for both sexes, all helped to impose a less rough, more domestic, more genteel image of female behaviour.

The change in tactics of the authorities in handling crowds may also have kept some women away from meetings and demonstrations. The decade of the 1840s saw the introduction of police forces in many areas under the provisions of the Rural Police Act of 1839. It could be that mass demonstrations began to assume a generally rougher nature. The photograph of the crowd on Kennington Common in 1848 seem to suggest that very few women were present.

Dorothy Thompson, The Chartists, 1984