London's empowered women
100 years ago, after decades of struggle, British women won the right to vote in Parliamentary elections for the first time. The 1918 Representation of the People Act gave the vote to all men, and most women over 30. Ten years later, the Equal Franchise Act gave all men and women the vote on equal terms, at the age of 21.
Throughout 2018, many of us have been celebrating these democratic milestones and the fight for equality. At City Hall, the Mayor has launched the #BehindEveryGreatCity campaign and ‘Our Time’ initiative which aims to tackle gender inequality in the workplace and pave the way for future women leaders.
In addition, I was recently a guest of honour at the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham’s Women’s Empowerment Month Awards which celebrated the borough’s inspirational females and their diverse achievements across a range of different categories.
Barking and Dagenham can be considered trailblazers when it comes to promoting gender equality through local government, becoming the first council in the country to adopt a gender equality charter on 10th March 2016. The charter is a commitment to ensuring that discrimination is tackled and the barriers to achieving equality removed.
Many leading feminist figures in recent history have also resided in the borough, from Mary Wollstonecraft – a writer and women’s rights advocate, whose daughter Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein – to militant suffragette Annie Clara Huggett, who regularly had the Pankhursts round for tea and was part of the Barking suffragette movement. Elizabeth Fry, dubbed The Angel of Prisons for her work to improve conditions for female inmates, was also a well-known face in 19th century Barking.
However, as we mark the centenary of when some women were first awarded the right to vote and 50 years since the passing of the Equal Pay Act, we should also remember that the gender pay gap and other inequalities will continue to exist if society does not come together and take concerted action.
While there is much to be celebrated, let’s not forget that the struggle for equality goes on.