We got a lovely comment in from a reader, who has been following the live blog.
Katherine Buckingham: My two girls have been marching around today, singing ‘votes for women!’
Photograph: Katherine Buckingham
Here’s a photo of my two girls before school this morning, wearing rosettes they made themselves. Erica, who is five, is on the right, and Sylvia, three, is on the left. She is named after Sylvia Pankhurst.
We think it’s important to use days like today to teach our children about the bravery and sacrifice that has shaped the world they now live in. And my girls love it - they’ve been marching around singing ‘votes for women!’.
More of you have been in touch about the biggest goals for women’s rights today - one of them being the perception of power.
Ellen from North Wales said we need to change the attitude of some men who still perceive women to be objects.
These men do not see us as their equals. Those with actual power and imagined power use it to try and belittle us. Only when we group together in a movement like #MeToo do we find out the inequality that still goes on to this day. Assuming many did not take part in this the staggering number suggests a larger problem.
Divya from London, thinks economic and financial independence of women of all classes should be next.
This will empower women to raise their voices and be a part of every decision-making dialogue. This will mean more investment in women’s health issues and research, more products that women can use (not pink pens that some male CEO thinks women need!), a shift in governmental policy - more child care support and benefits, more help for women to get back into the work force, and support for victims of sexual predators (from online harassment to rape). This will mean ensuring men are part of this movement, actively call out unequal behaviour and actively support women on a day to day basis.
If we went back to 1919 – who on Twitter would be railing against votes for women?
This tweet from journalist Jane Merrick is getting a lot of love.
I’m playing a fun game in my head where, if all of us on Twitter went back in time to 1918, who here would be railing against votes for women #Vote100#100years#Suffragette100
Labour MP for Tottenham David Lammy has spoken about women’s rights today.
Today, we celebrate the battle that women fought for their part in democracy, and their heroic struggle to challenge the belief that women were subordinate to men. #Votes100#Suffragette100pic.twitter.com/Hzi8B535Re
Protests change the world. The arc of the moral universe may bend towards justice but it will not bend on its own - we need people to fight for what is right. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the women who stood up, fought and changed the world. #Votes100#Suffragette100pic.twitter.com/czZOkeptCr
'Proud feminist' Sadiq Khan speaks at the suffragette exhibition in Trafalgar Square
Alexandra Topping
It was a cold but clear morning that welcomed in the centenary of some women and all men getting the vote, as the mayor of London Sadiq Khan unveiled a pop-up tribute to those that campaigned to make it happen in Trafalgar Square today.
Unveiling a screen of life-sized images of 59 campaigners – who will feature on the new statue of suffragist leader Millicent Fawcett, which will be erected in the spring – Khan said the image was a reminder of the breadth and diversity of the movement. He added that the centenary year had to be seized as an opportunity to further women’s rights.
“When I campaigned to be mayor I said I wanted to be a proud feminist in City Hall, and hopefully people have seen that we mean what we say in relation to that,” he said.
“On a personal level, I am the father of two girls and I love them and there is no reason why these talented, bright women should have every opportunity to do what they want, but because they are girls or women instead of boys or men their potential is limited. It’s a fact that life chances, career prospects, pay – these are all affected by your gender. That can’t be right in 2018 in the most progressive city in the world.”
Historian Lucy Worsley, dressed in full suffragette regalia said it was a moment to honour and celebrate, but also commemorate. “A lot of these women paid a very heavy price, with their health, in their family life – this isn’t just a celebration it’s also about remembering the sacrifices they made,” she said. “I’m sure that some of these women would be looking at the world today and thinking there hasn’t been as much progress made as they would have hoped.”
Rare collection of suffragette posters goes on display
Joanna Ruck
A collection of rare suffragette posters are being displayed to mark the anniversary of women winning the right to vote. The selection of posters, one of the largest surviving collections, were put on show to the public at Cambridge University Library. Here are a few of them.
Photograph: Cambridge University Library
Photograph: Cambridge University Library
Photograph: Cambridge University Library
Women’s suffrage poster Photograph: Cambridge University Library
'Our periods should not be the reason we are held back'
Amika George
Amika George is an 18-year-old student from North London. She started the #FreePeriods campaign, which calls on the government to give free menstrual products to children from low-income families
Today, I stand proud and strong as a woman. This week, I’ve shuddered as I read agonising accounts of the struggles, the violence and the pain that the suffragettes endured for a decade to allow women today the opportunity to stand equal with men in society.
Last year, I started the #FreePeriods campaign because children are missing school in the UK because they can’t afford menstrual products. In many countries across the globe, the shame and stigma of menstruation forces girls to drop out of school altogether.
It’s appalling that girls are being hindered in their academic progress and prevented from contributing fully to society because of a natural and perfectly normal biological process.
Period poverty should not be an obstacle to learning, and should never be the reason that girls cannot achieve, excel and prosper in society. The government needs to take action.
Today we celebrate what we can achieve when men and women together fight against injustice and inequality. A century on and there is still so much progress to be made. Our periods should not be the reason we are held back.
The 1910s: ‘We have sanitised our history of the suffragettes’
An interesting article on the Guardian today from Fern Riddell about the suffragettes, highlighting the fact that the women’s movement was as fractured then as it is today.
Theresa May: 'I would have been a moderate suffragist rather than a suffragette'
Photograph: Niklas Halle'N/AFP/Getty Images
Theresa May has suggested that if she had been fighting for the right to vote 100 years ago she would have been a suffragist, rather than a more radical suffragette.
The suffragists, a group led by Millicent Fawcett, believed in peaceful campaigning. In this respect they were different to the militant direct action favoured by suffragettes headed by Emmeline Pankhurst.
Quizzed by BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour about which side she would have taken if she had been involved a century ago, May said: “I was, in a sense, asked this question when I was asked about the statue and who I would support, and I did say Millicent Fawcett.”
Asked if she was a natural suffragist, the PM said: “Both of these had a role. That’s the point. So, to me it’s not an either/or.
“Actually, both of them played their part in making sure that women could take their full role in public life.”
May also pointed to her connection with people involved in the struggle, saying: “My late godmother’s mother was a suffragette. Her father was a doctor to the Pankhursts.”
The prime minister also discussed the recent controversy over how hostesses were allegedly treated at a men only Presidents Club City charity event. She said it showed some attitudes still needed to change.
We’ve been asking you what important issues still face women today, with gender disparity at work and advocacy for all regardless of background being mentioned.
Emma Clancy from Dunstable is chief executive for the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting. She said sexism is still a prevalent issue in the electrical and wider construction sectors.
In the electrical industry alone women only make up around 1% of the total workforce. As an industry we need to broaden our approach to recruitment and the image we portray. We need to change the perception of the industry as one traditionally for boys and make it more inclusive and appealing to women. Young women need to see it as a viable, exciting career option from the very beginning. Too many young females are still pushed into careers such as hairdressing or childcare as it is the perceived norm.
LS, 30, from New Delhi, India, said we must not forget to speak out for all women regardless of their income or sexual orientation.
We’ve got to remember that 100 years ago only a small sub-section of women (property owners and so forth) got the right to vote. That pretty much encapsulates the biggest challenge facing women’s rights activists: embracing the need to advocate for all women, across race, sexual orientation, income, etc. Time and time again, we’ve seen how the biggest outcries have been over issues affecting the well-to-do set. It isn’t that issues that affect them aren’t important, just that they should not be the only issues that receive attention. Of course we need more female chief executives, STEM graduates and Google employees but we also have to speak up for women who are raped in conflict areas, black women who are likelier to die due to childbirth, and trans women who are overwhelmingly victims of assault.
