Rachael Attwood Hamard - The centenary of women voting...
The coverage of the centenary of the 1918 Representation
of the People Act raises some fundamental questions about the portrayal of
women’s rights in the media today.
Over the past year,
there has been a steady stream of celebratory pieces on "the 100th
anniversary of women getting the vote for the first time". Yet, there
is a striking lack of nuance in a good deal of the coverage of this important
milestone. Several pieces that touch upon the centenary either marginalise or
altogether overlook the fact that, while a major stride was taken towards the
political equality of the sexes in 1918, not all women were given the vote, and
not all women got the vote on the same terms as men.
Under the 1918 Act,
all men over 21 (or over 19 if they were servicemen) were enfranchised. Women,
by contrast, had to be over 30 and either had to own a property, be or be
related to a member of the local government register, or be a graduate in a
university constituency. This equated to 40 per cent of women in the UK. Due to
the large numbers of men who died in the First World War women assumed around a
43 per cent stake in the electorate. Such a high percentage meant that the
government only wanted women who were well into adulthood and who
possessed a sufficient amount of property (read: wealth), social status, and/or
education to be entrusted with the vote…
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