Political Role Of Women In The 19th Century Essay

Throughout the 19th century onwards feminists have been fighting the battle of equality – known as the suffrage movement. In the mid-19th century and early 20th century feminists were focused on gaining the rights to vote – known as first wave feminism. Since then, feminists have been focused on gaining other aspects of equality – including equal pay. Although since 1974 – when Portugal gained universal suffrage - every country in Europe has universal suffrage, the political role of women in contemporary Europe has been widely debated on. According to Randall “the suffragettes, however mistakenly, perceived the vote not simply as a symbol of political emancipation but as a means to effective political participation” suggesting that the political role of women in contemporary Europe is still weak …show more content…
When Thatcher was elected in 1979, there was the lowest amount of female MPs elected into parliament for nearly 30 years; this highlights the fact that having a women in power does not necessarily mean the political role of other women will also increase (Richard Cracknell, 2014, p. 9). Additionally, Thatcher appointed “only one woman to her Cabinet - Janet Young, who was leader of the Lords” in her time in office furthering the notion that a women in power does not translate to an increase in the political role of all women (Holehouse, 2013). More recently, “in 2010, David Cameron’s first Cabinet included four women” this rose to five in 2011 but as of April 2014 there are only three (Richard Cracknell, 2014, p. 9). Fischer notes that “The number of women in the cabinet – three out of 22 with full voting rights – is the lowest since the pre-Blair years”, this clearly suggests that the lack of female ministers is still an issue in Britain (Fisher,