Last Saturday marked the 90th anniversary of the first time women in Britain had the opportunity to vote in a General Election. The Representation of the People Act enabled 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 to vote and came after decades of tireless campaigning from so many inspirational men and women.
At a time when my generation is calling itself 'post-feminist' I think it's important to look back and appreciate how far we've come but also to remember that the 'equal rights' so many of us believe we have are enjoyed by a pitifully small percentage of women worldwide and that despite some gains, we are still treated as second-class citizens. I'm incredibly grateful for the rights I have and the work done by my sisters over the years to make things better for us but we must not be disillusioned into thinking 'the work is done' or that we 'don't need feminism' purely because some women are able to enjoy what they perceive to be a reasonable level of equality.
3 comments:
the whole women's rights movement is so fascinating to me. i still can't believe the french didn't allow females to vote until AFTER wwii!! so few people know just how important the movement was, and STILL is.
Nicely put!
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I read this and thought of you => http://community.livejournal.com/literaryquotes/6696100.html
The link doesn't work! Post it in an Lj comment or something :)
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