100 Years since women got the vote

Well I objected to the moving of SW and H to Wednesday because of the football ?

This I don't understand about the talk of wanting equality, why the objection to a football match on tv? Women watch football on tv, go to see football matches , play football .

Yes, Maryeliza, channel four news was good.
It's a shame the BBC celebrated yesterday by putting a football match on! A long way to go still.

It's my middle granddaughter's 18th this month, so as part of her present I have bought her a book by Helen Pankhurst, granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst, called Deeds not Words, the Story of Women's Rights, Then and Now.
I am sure my granddaughter will use her vote wisely even without reading the book. In fact I might buy myself a copy of the book as well, as 20% of the proceeds will go towards Care's work supporting girls and women to overcome poverty.

Helen Pankhurst works for Care International and ActionAid, helping women in other countries.
She will be at the March4Women on 4th March.

Violence by police was the norm then to men and women , so at least the police were treating women equally

www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2018/02/suffragettes-women-100-years-working-class

This is an interesting article re the involvement of working class women. As for celebrating - it was important because it was the beginning of accepting that women should have th3 vote in national elections. I think the coverage given this week has been great - it’s reminded people of the whole struggle for gender equality of which the right to vote is the cornerstone, of how far we’ve come but of how far there is to go. C4 News was excellent last night - some really interesting discussions with a range of women. The wonderful Laura Bates and then MPs Jess Philips and Nicky Morgan.

How many of us here would have met the criteria to vote ( assuming we were the right age) certainly not me, so I have nothing to celebrate . Obviously us working class women were still too stupid to understand the process.

My paternal grandmother born in 1875 thought the Sufferagettes were quite shameful. "They mostly came from good families and did not behave in a ladylike manner at all".

I think given the abuse they received at the hands of the police...and its well documented,he got off lightly with her knocking his helmet off ! And yes I'm very proud of her and her part in the fight for womens suffrage .

I remember the BBC series about the suffragettes - must have been the 1970s, because I was out of the country in the '60s. Mrs Pankhurst and her two daughters, Sylvia and Christabel were in the forefront, but I remember the redoubtable Dame Ethel Smythe who composed the suffragette anthem. Was the series called 'Shoulder to Shoulder'?

On BBC R4 this evening, votes were given to women over the age of 30 who were householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5 or graduates of British universities. (My grandmother is named on 1919 electoral roll, but they never owned their own home)
The historian also said that had women had the same right to vote as men (universal suffrage over 21) there would gave been more female voters than men due to WWI. She added that equalising the voting arrangements was agreed very soon after, but the legislation took nearly ten years (again because of the aftermath of the war, sorting the country out)

GabriellaG why indeed, I just think me going on about how important it was and how few of their friends do vote must play on their minds!

We went to see the suffragettes film at the cinema last year and at the end there was a list of countries and the date when women got the vote. Quite a few surprises in the list! I remember the series on the tele. Years ago, probably late fifties or early sixties. Anyone else remember it? There were the most graphic scenes of women being force fed in prison (by mouth) - stayed with me all this time.
I do think that things are changing now and we do seem to have some feisty women fighting our cause. Still some way to go before women are really treated equally.

quizqueen
Violence? ? That's a bit extreme.

luluaugust
Why would they need to report back to you the fact that they voted?

ExaltedWombat
I don't agree. I have a law degree and a diploma in forensic graphology and yes, I'm from a Northern town and voted to leave the EU. Living in a nearby street, and going to the same school or church does not confer any great status on those who use the same facilities or lived in the same area as a known name. There are a few 'well known' people who have done amazing things for society in the area where I now live but so what...

I had no idea of the date and no, I don't celebrate it. I certainly wouldn't join marches or bang the drum for 'women's rights as they are now being given away by the very people who they were meant to benefit. Now females want equality which is all well and good, as long as they don't then expect men to pay for everything, open doors, treat them as princesses. Cake and eat it comes to mind.
Years ago, a police officer I know had a run in with a female colleague when on a chase on foot. Coming to a high wall, he offered her a leg up. She got flustered and annoyed sayingvas he was the taller and male, he should climb. 'Ah no' he said, 'we're on the same pay rate so do the job or leave'. Quite right too.
I expect to pay my way and any little niceties afforded me because I'm a woman are received with many thanks and a smile. They are not expected as a right.

paddyann- you think violence against a police officer is something to be proud of-shame on you.

I always vote, the women who fought for it deserve it.

concentrate

Tahnks Mags for telling me the reason why the suffragists' colours were green, white, and violet.
At school, my house was Pankhurst, but i was deeply underwhelmed by her actions especially as I didn't like the violet button i haad to wear!!!
I have made my DCs well aware of how privileged they are to be able to vote once they are of age. I was brought up in a Third World country and in my lifetime pi was born in '48] the law changed from the only voters [leave women] had to be over 21 and property owners; then it changed to rate payers, then to those who was literate. My DM was a school teacher and taught many a servant/coloured person to read and write so as to empower them. Finally, just before I was 21 myself [do the maths] universal suffrage was brought in!
I wish we could have a sort of "miss out voting because you CBA and you miss voting the next time too". It might concertrate minds...

s aged = deep seated <must remember to preview>

When there is a long and hard campaign for really deep s aged social change such as universal suffrage or the end to segregation (USA) or apartheid its inevitable that there will be a wide range of groups employing a wide range of methods. It’s probably a combination of all of that that eventually leads to change. What I’ve learned in this last few days is the depraved depths that some men went to punish the suffragettes - some of the forced feeding was done rectally and some women were subject to rape and beatings by police, prison officers and so on.

I didn't realise until today that it was not only women (who met all the conditions) who got the vote but working-class men as well.

My fathers mother was a Suffragette, so not to vote would be an anathema to me.
I vaguely remember her, I am 72, so only little when she died.
But because of her I am truly grateful.
Her husband (my grandfather) was a German Jew who was interned in a concentration camp and made to go on a forced march and inevitably died. I never knew him.

Other groups campaigned for the right for women to vote but it is the Suffragettes who are the most well-known.
The campaign for women's suffrage took several forms and involved numerous groups and individuals. The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), formed in 1897, was constitutional in its approach. This meant that it campaigned peacefully and used recognised ‘political’ methods such as lobbying parliament and collecting signatures for petitions. The group also held public meetings and published various pamphlets, leaflets, newspapers and journals outlining the reasons and justifications for granting women the vote. Members of the NUWSS and other such organisations were known as 'suffragists'.

In order to gain publicity and raise awareness, the more militant Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), formed in 1903, engaged in a series of more violent actions. They chained themselves to railings, set fire to public and private property and disrupted speeches both at public meetings and in the House of Commons. Members of the WSPU and other militant groups such as the Women's Freedom League were known as 'suffragettes'.
www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/struggle/suffrage/background/suffragettesbackground.html

Would they have succeeded without the violent actions of this group?
Probably, as other countries were becoming more enlightened and giving women the right to vote.