Today marks the day where some women were given the right to vote. 100 years ago women who were over the age of 30 and either owned land themselves or were married to men with property were given the right to vote.
Part of me feels proud for this, but another part of me feels angry that this wasn’t a birthright as it was for many men, and the right to cast ballet was still discriminated by class and wealth. However, 100 years ago set in motion the steps for the universal woman’s suffrage, a decade that help brings change and give all women the right to vote.
This was a historic change for the women, yet it still angers me, that we, as women, are still not seen as equal (I am talking the mass here, not the minority). Don’t get me wrong, there are industries where a woman is treated equally as a man. But then, we look at industries and sectors that our children grow up and listen to and learn from. Politics, for example, female politicians still remain the minority in ELECTED positions of power. Is this because politics is still a mans world? And this world is one that governs our country!
Where will we be in the next hundred years? All I know is that this is an exciting time for our children and our children’s children! I made my girls watch Oprah’s speech, they asked questions to do with men, women, race, why people were treated differently when we are all born the same. These are the questions I want to champion and felt proud that my children were asking.
So I salute the Emily Davison’s, the Emmeline Pankhurst’s, the Flora Drummond’s and the suffragettes of the past present and future. The MEN and women that help and continue to fight for equal rights in sex, race and religion.
We are living in an exciting and vibrant time.
Lots of love
Jess oxox