100 Years of Voting - Sajida Yasmin, Lister Community School.

On Tuesday 6th February, it marked 100 years since women were given the right to vote.

The Representation of the People Act in 1918 was an Act Of Parliament and was the first to include all men over the age of 21 in the political system, but only women over 30 who held at least £5 of property, or had a husband who did. This act added 8.4 million women to the electorate, as well as 5.6 million men. Women now accounted for 43% of the electorate; had women been enfranchised based upon the same requirements as men, they would have made majority of the electorate as many men had been lost in the war.

 Women were accepted to vote as a recognition of the contribution made by women defence workers. However, women were still not politically equal to men; political equality was achieved in Ireland in 1922, but it was not attained in Britain until the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act in 1928.

The Representation of the People Act in 1918 was the start of female suffrage in Great Britain. The bill had passed in the House of Commons with a majority of 385 supporting the bill and 55 against.

Some people don't quite share the same views as others about this topic. Nazeerah Patel, a year 10 student at Lister Community School, states: “I think that it is horrific that even after 100 years of women being able to vote, women are still not being treated as women should be – women should be as equal as men. Whether it be a high or low economically developed country, inequality is still present in our day-to-day lives. What I find most astonishing is that countries who promote feminist ideas are often those where women are under constant physical and emotional abuse, being called derogatory terms in songs, which further promotes the acceptance of women being treated unequally. This is simply not acceptable for the one hundred years of hard work and life dedication women have undergone to create an equal voice. One hundred years and the only thing that has changed is women being allowed to vote.”

Sajida Yasmin, Lister Community School