Saturday 13 December 2008

No more the meek and mild subservients we!

Thank you to Jennie for reminding me: sisters, brethren, today is the ninetieth anniversary of the first time British women went to the polling booths. Yup -less than a century ago, at least half of the population were forbidden from having any say in the political process whatsoever simply on account of lacking dangly nether bits and half a chromosome.

It has been said before, and it has been said better than I ever could. But I am grateful to my grandmothers' grandmothers: I am grateful to Mary Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill, Emmeline, Christabel and Sylvia Pankhurst, Millicent Fawcett, Charlotte Despard and Emily Wilding Davies. I am grateful to those crusading women and men who gave their social security, their freedom and sometimes their lives so that my little sisters and I could own our political inheritance. Our lives are immeasurably the richer for it.

We still have battles to fight, ninety years on; all over the world, women are second-class citizens compared with men, and in this country and many others we are still fighting for full cultural and political emancipation. But today, I think, we can take ten seconds to look back at where we've come. Catch your breath: you'll get dizzy.

Much as I abhor most Disney, this song is always rousing, and I can see no more fitting tribute to our illustious forbears. Rest in peace, ladies: you did good.

14 comments:

  1. Well I have to say I didn't expect to see that You Tube clip on here Penny lol!

    But point taken...we have a long way to go yet, especially in particular cultures/countries, but we sometimes forget just what the suffragettes did. To have got the vote, from pretty much a standing start...without the momentum created by previous generations (which at least women today can - hopefully - benefit from) remains an astonishing achievement.

    By the way - have just started coming over to your blog. Love your writing.

    I was there at the V&A that night last month too :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'd have included one more name in your list: Harriet Taylor (she and Mill were lovers and she was a major influence on his thinking and wrote several pieces in his name).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Psssst! we have an EXTRA half chromosome, not a half less ;)

    Thank you for the linkies, though.

    * squish *

    ReplyDelete
  4. My take here: http://www.scriboergosum.org.uk/revamp/1910

    ReplyDelete
  5. Universal Suffrage for Women... 90 years old. Well, some women could vote earlier than this but only the special 'rich' kind. Nevertheless, Happy Birthday and just think, Universal Suffrage for Men is 100 years old this year. Thousands of days of voting privilege finally came to an end.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hmmmm....I wonder how those suffraggettes would view a "feminist" who wants to throw a party when Britain's first and only woman PM dies and dance on her grave?

    ReplyDelete
  7. If you want to know more about MLA format, try to read https://pro-essay-writer.com/blog/mla-style-guide. It will help you to achieve success

    ReplyDelete
  8. I will check out this song if you recommend it. And I want you to check this https://homework-writer.com/blog/study-for-exams website. It's pretty decent.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The IB extended essay writing task is an essential writing project with a certain set of standards, guidelines and requirements that students should keep to. If it sounds too complicated, you can buy ib extended essay here.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I graduated from school with some problems, now I went to university and decided to take my head. I started ordering works from essay pro and not for nothing. After all, you will not find such shyness anywhere.

    ReplyDelete
  11. On essay writing service reviews you can find all the information about the company you are interested in. Here you can find such things as pricing, quality and uniqueness of works, reviews of individual writers, minimum time for works and much more.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I had enjoyed loneliness all my life, I was basically a sociopath and a sociophobe. But my life changed the moment I discovered an awesome dating coach toni muller psychologist on the internet. Not only did he change my life after a few sessions, he allowed me to rethink it myself and set completely different, correct priorities. I highly recommend it to the kind of people I was.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Our professional writer company writes various types of works for students and schoolchildren. Therefore, if you have difficulties in writing, use it https://essayslab.com/decreased-intracranial-adaptive-capacity-care-plan.html and you will not regret that you chose us

    ReplyDelete
  14. It is terrible to aware that 90 years ago world was so hard for woman.
    Many people think,that is modern culture ruining childhood, but I think,that it fosters humanity and respect in children.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are open on this blog, but I reserve the right to delete any abusive or off-topic threads.