Did you know that the suffragette movement wasn’t only about women?
(The Representation of the People Act 1918) This act was an important law as it allowed women to vote for the very first time. Before this, women weren’t allowed to vote in general elections at all.
Women over the age of 30 who occupied a house (or were married to someone who did) could now vote. This now meant 8.5 million women had a say over who was in Parliament – about 2 in every 5 women in the UK.
Of course, some men could vote, but not all of them – a man had to have property to be able to vote, so this excluded people without wealth.
This new law also allowed all men over the age of 21 to vote regardless of whether or not they owned property, and men in the armed forces could vote from the age of 19. The number of men who could now vote went from 8 to 21 million. So you men can thank the suffragette movement for fighting for them.
But as you can see, the situation was still very unequal between men and women.
Stirling UNISON 