Looks Like A Job For A Woman

Image courtesy of
Vichaya Kiatying-Angsulee/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Can you name the first woman MP to sit in the UK parliament? I couldn't. Which is why I decided to find out.

In 1918, women over 30 who had sufficient property to qualify were given the right to vote in parliamentary elections. Women were also allowed to stand for parliament for the first time.

The first woman to be elected as an MP was Constance Markievicz who never took up her seat (she was a member of Sinn Fein.)

The first woman to actually sit as an MP in the commons was Nancy Astor, an American lady who became the Conservative MP for Plymouth Sutton. As well as supporting women's right to vote, she also brought in a private member's bill which made it illegal to sell alcohol to anyone under the age of 18.

People like Nancy Astor paved the way for people who came after her, as did those women way back before 1834 who used to peer through a ventilation shaft to see House of Commons debates, and those crammed in the Ladies' Gallery afterwards - I'm very glad that women are no longer so completely excluded from politics in the UK.

Bye for now!