We owe everything to the suffragettes — we should always use our vote

June 4, 2013

SuffragettesIt’s 100 years today since Emily Davison threw herself in front of the King’s horse and died. She was protesting against the fact that women were not, in 1913, treated as equal citizens. We didn’t have the vote, we didn’t have any rights. It was thanks to the protests (including hunger strikes) by Emily, Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst and the suffragettes, five years later British women were given the vote.

This is something we were taught at school, and as the daughter of a women’s libber, I was raised believing in equality for all. I am and always will be a feminist, because I believe that women should be treated the same as men in all walks of life, regardless of culture, religion, age or anything else, including where they live in the world.

Having access to proper healthcare and education, being able to walk down the street without fear of attack, having a voice, a career, being financially independent – these are basic rights all women should have.

It upsets me greatly then that we’re still living in a world where some women are not treated equally – in fact, they’re treated as third-class citizens; discriminated against, forced to endure FGM and other horrors, simply because they are women.

It upsets me also when I hear women say they can’t be bothered to vote, or they’re not interested in politics (which is something that affects all of us, whether we’re aware of it or not.)

The suffragettes went through hell to ensure that generations of women would gain equality in the home, in the workplace and in the world. The rest is up to us.

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  • Kriss Macdonald June 7, 2013 at 4:24 am

    I’m so glad you highlighted that you’re a feminist. Women have come a long way thanks to the suffragettes and others and I want to teach my young daughter that it’s a word to be proud about.

  • Tattie Weasle June 4, 2013 at 1:28 pm

    We haven’t even had the vote for 100 years yet and less women vote here in the Uk than men! In 2010 64% of women voted com[pared to 66% of men. Only 39% of women aged between 18 – 24 voted. I think the those wonderful women who struggled so hard to get us the vote would turn in their graves as for all the women in the world who have yet to get the right to vote….