(Don’t) Take It Away
Yes, I’m doing UK Politics, ooh! But before anyone gets over excited, or panicked, its not modern politics, and very strictly its not even a matter of politics. And oh, its an event that happened 100 years ago today!
Yes, on February 6th, 1918, for the first time, an act was put forward to allow women to vote. In truth, it wasnt the complete victory for equality, that would only come about 10 years later, but as a day when the right to vote was first offered to women, this is the anniversary one.
As I say, hollow victory. Whereas at the same time, all men of 21 or over was given the right to vote, only women of 30 and over, and who had to live in the same property as a man who could vote, or who was certified in some way (remembering that at this time, most womens education was inferior to that given to men) were able to cast a vote.
From there, as I say, it took until 1928 before all women aged 21 and over (the voting age at that time) had the legal right to vote.
Of course there are a few famous Suffragette stories, one of them being of course the sad fate of Emily Davison, who threw herself under the hooves of the King’s Derby runner in 1913, and died. Its fair to say we will never know whether this was a deliberate act, and if it was, its hard to believe she could pick out one horse at the speed they would have been travelling at. The fact that she had purchased a return rail ticket, and had tickets for an event that evening would lead you to assume she expected to go home that night. In truth, the answer to these, and other questions are never going to be answered now.
The biggest question is, but for WW1, would it have happened when it did? Its fair to say that the sudden need for women to do all the work at home in England let to a change in authority attitudes, and this may have been an agreed compromise, to keep everyone happy? If not for that, when would women have got the right to vote, who knows? I’d like to think it would have happened at some point, but exactly when…?
But today, lets just remember all those brave women, from so long ago, who helped to give women the right to vote.
The video, there is a clue in the blog title, and its why 1 word is in brackets, shall we say? Paul McCartney made some great videos back then, and this was one of them.
stevielounicks 
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