The History behind Votes for Women

On the 7th of February 2018 it was has been 100 years since women over the age of 30 and householders received the right to vote. However many people do not realise how much work people had to put in to get this.

It first started in 1932 when the first suffrage petition was shown to the government as the Great Reform Act excluded women from voting by defining voters as ‘male persons’. Parliament debated for many years however led to little success as got little attention because the suffragist movement only used peaceful ways of protesting.

Then in 1903 the Women’s Social and Political Union is founded (WSPU). This was led by Emmeline Pankhurst and is perhaps the most famous of the women suffrage groups. As nonviolent resistance ways of protesting were not successful the WSPU adopted militant tactics. They chained themselves to railings, disrupted public meetings and damaged public properties. They also did many hunger strikes in prison when arrested. This drew a lot of attention of parliament towards the suffragette movement.

Then in June 4th 1913 the whole world got a glimpse of the suffragette movement. A suffragette who was arrested nine times and force-fed 49 times called Emily Davison jumped out in front of the king’s horse at the Epson Derby. Her reason for this was unclear however she was trampled on and died four days later on the 8th June from her injuries. Thousands of women attended her funeral and was broadcasted on television to many people. This was a huge step in the suffragette movement.

Then on the 7th February 1918, the Representation of the People Act is passed giving women the right to vote. However only women over the age of 30 and met the property qualifications were allowed until ten years later in 1928 where women over the age of 21 could vote.

Even though women have now received the vote some countries such as Saudi Arabia only just allowed women to vote in 2015. Also there is still a very large issue on inequality between men and women in most aspects of the everyday life especially in jobs. Income inequality has risen faster in the UK than any other OCED (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) country and today women earn on average £140,000 less than men.

To conclude women have been through so much to receive the vote in the past 200 years, the suffragist and suffragettes, but now have the fight the gender inequality now in the modern life.