loopyloulaura

A century of women voting. It seems like a long time but it isn’t.

100 years ago women were granted the right to vote if they were over 30. It took another 10 years for ALL women to win the same rights.

And obviously 100 years is nothing compared to the hundreds of years that men have had that right, although remember that all men only got the vote 100 years ago today as well (42% of men couldn’t vote before 1918!).

My great grandmothers did not have the right to vote. It seems incredible that women I knew should have lived in a time when they had no voting rights.

Last year in the lead up to the General Election I begged men and women to go out to vote. Both sexes had to battle to win universal suffrage and I believe it should be compulsory but that there should also be an option for ‘none of the above’ due to my own disillusionment with the established political regime.

I studied Women’s Studies as part of my degree at university. 18 years on I cannot believe the way that women are still regarded as inferior, particularly as demonstrated through the gender pay gap and the sexual harrassment which are commonplace in some of the world’s most famous institutions.

I have 2 boys and a girl. I regard them as equals. I want them to have the same opportunities and life experiences that are not in any way affected by their gender. I want them to have freedom of choice and not feel restrained by society’s norms.

Men and women are equal but different. Gender fluidity and the reimagination of gender boundaries can only be positive in the fight for true equality. We should all be respected and have the same chances in life irrespective of gender and without fear of sexual violence.