CONTENTS: Introduction: Page 1
Literature review Page 1-2
Discussion:
- What is political equality for women? Page 3
- How are Laws made in Britain? Page 4
- What is the vote and how does it work? Page 4-5
- What prevents women from entering politics? Page 5
- What political rights did women gain? Page 5-6
- Is Political Equality for women important? Page 6-7
- What does the progress women have achieved in politics and Page 7-8 society show towards gaining political equality?
- What setbacks have women faced? Page 8
- What does the number of female MP’s in each political party show? Page 8-9
Conclusion Page 9
Evaluation Page 10 |

Will Women Achieve Political Equality in Britain?
Introduction
For my higher project I decided to research if women can achieve political equality in Britain. I wanted to research why they started out being inferior and then what progress they had made to achieve political equality and then finally if achieving political equality is possible. My project explores the history, expanding and evolving role of women in politics. What enticed me into choosing this thesis was mainly my interest and curiosity as to why women are inferior to men and what has perceived them to being the lesser gender. I’d read a book as part of my English Literature GCSE called ‘An Inspector Calls’ which inspired me to find out why women were inferior to men. Sexism isn’t a main part of the book, but I think it is reflected on a lot of the characters views in the book. I narrowed my focus down to politics because it’s a controversial topic so therefore it would provide me with multiple views and reasons to form my conclusion and the book also has a political side to it, about socialists and capitalists, which also encouraged my decision into choosing politic. To help me gain an answer to whether or not women can achieve political equality, I wanted to start my research by defining exactly what ‘Political Equality’ is. The reason I want to define this is so I can get a clear understanding of what the goals actually are so I can see which ones have been met and which ones need to be progressed. Another area I will address is what barriers women faced and what rights political rights they had and how they have expanded. The reason I believe this will help my form my answer is because it will give me a good idea of how women’s role has evolved and how they started out to what they have achieved. The reason I decide to focus solely on Britain is because I would make my research more focused and I think it would provide me with enough information to answer my question as opposed to an overload of information, it would also allow me to go into detail and study Britain’s history for the right to vote. I am also going to research the progress women have made throughout the last century what has happened and been achieved so far and how all the progress in the past few centuries have allowed women to become closer to achieving equality. The skills I want to gain from this project are, being able to plan, and organise my time effectively. Being able to learn how to evaluate and analyse sources, and to know want makes them reliable. I would also like to become more familiar with British politics as I believe it will help me later on in life.
Literature Review
When starting my research I made a list of different sources that I could use to help me gain a broad range of information. This included: websites, books, newspaper articles and blogs. My main source which I used was the Internet. I found many blogs with people personal opinions, but these didn’t hold valuable and accurate information. I also found some newspaper articles on recent numbers of women in each political party. Plus I read a few books which I got from my school library which talked about the journey of women through politics.
After conducting all my research, my most useful source was a book, which I found online. The author of the book is called Elaine Hemond, and she believes that more women need to be involved in politics and is trying to make her leap into politics. In her book ‘Women’s Political Equality’, she outlines some of the reasons on what she believe are preventing women from entering politics. She also talks about women’s role from the Stone Age to the current century and how it’s evolved. I found this source, my most useful and helpful as it was analysing many of the points that I wish to explore in my project. Plus, it was very reliable and I researched the author and she is highly regarded for the work and progress she has made for women in politics. Also as the book, is based on women’s role in politics regarding the whole world where as I only want to focus on Britain as a country, it gave me some sub topics that I could look into more detail on specifically on Britain.
Another source which I used that provided me with the base of my project was Abolish-power. It helped me understand exactly what Political Equality is. When finding a definition for political equality is was quite difficult as many websites and books only related to the right to vote and not about equality in the work force of politics. Also many of the websites that held definitions were from answer sites (yahoo answers, wiki answers etc), which weren’t reliable as they were peoples own opinions and the answers weren’t valid as any person could post an answer. The website that I used – Abolish Power- was the only source that I could find with a basic but precise definition. However the website looked poorly designed and amateurish and also it was quite bias, as the writer had strong view points on that everyone doesn’t have equal say in the laws made even though we all have equal rights.
Also I wanted to find out factual information on how laws are made and the voting system in Britain. The website I used was Parlimen.uk. Finding information, on the process of producing laws, was quite simple on the internet as well as in books; the only slight problem I faced was finding a source which was relating to laws in Britain specifically. This was mainly why I chose, Parliament.uk, because it is a British source and also because it is 100% reliable and correct as it came directly from the Parliament and the information was credible. However seen as they are a direct source of parliament they may be slightly biased to ensure a good image is received and after searching through the website I couldn’t find any names of people who were involved in supplying the information presented. However, overall the information that I gained was trusted as it was accurate and current.
The information that I acquired about women suffrage and women winning the vote was from a few books from the library and also a website called History learning site.
DISCUSSION
In my discussion I will be sharing the information I found out that I think I need to understand in order to answer my question. I’ll also be presenting all the different arguments and viewpoints of what I have found out from my research. Also I will be exploring the reasoning behind each mindset and linking each viewpoint to help me build and form my conclusion. Plus I will be combining in my own ideas to each perspective of the presented argument. This will formulate sub topics along the way so I can create a more balanced and a well analysed view point and conclusion.
What is political equality for women?
According to Abolish Power , political equality means that even though no two citizens are biologically equal, they still have equal rights to vote on every law and policy of their society. Taking this into consideration and applying it to my concept of equality for women, political equality for women means women being allowed the same voting rights as men and has the same opportunities to vote for laws and policies in their society. What I mean by equal opportunities is that you shouldn’t be judged on by your race, religion, age or in this case gender; only on your ability. And also referring to opportunities many people can misinterpret it as that everyone is entitled to have equal amounts of income, housing, personal possessions, health care, etc. However it’s only the opportunity to create those things for yourself.
By gaining Political equality, it means that women would be treated equally to men in politics, and given the same opportunities of jobs in politics as well as not being at a disadvantage because of their gender. They shouldn’t be discriminated against because of their gender and questioned about their skills because of their gender, as no solid evidence has shown that women don’t have the same skills as men do when holding a roll in politics.

How are Laws made in Britain?
Seeing as our society was (and some still are now) sexist against women, they wouldn’t allow women to be involved in politics, no matter how small or big the part. As a matter of fact 100yrs ago there were no women in house of lords or commons. Therefore the only solution or step forward was for laws to be made so that women could be heard. And in order for laws to be made or women’s input involved they needed to hold a role in politics.
Relating it back to my question, women needed laws to be made (i.e. the right to vote) in order for them to achieve political equality. Also the process of producing laws requires the input and approval from the House of Commons and Lords. And in order for women to have their input: in many cases which dominantly involve them, i.e. maternity leave , they have to gain access to the House of Commons by democratic elections and be appointed by the Prime Minister and Queen to have a seat in the house of lords. Even though women wanted to have a right to say in what involved them, they also want to manage the country as a whole, and be allowed to be as full and equally involved as males.
Stated by Dictionary.com a law is any written or positive rule or collection of rules prescribed under the authority of the state or nation, as by the people in its constitution. Therefore in simple terms, laws are rules that any person living in a certain country must obey. In Britain, laws are created and passed through the two houses of parliament (commons and lords) and then receive a Royal Assent by the Queen. Gathering my information from Parliament.UK, a draft bill is first produced. Draft bills are created by government departments and issued for consultation to, and are then issued to interested parties. After the draft is passed as a bill it’s introduced by a first reading and then is passed along for 2 more further readings, were at the final reading it will be voted for or against by both the House of Lords and House of Commons. Once the bill has been accepted by the majority it will receive a royal assent and then become a law of the land.
From researching how the law and voting systems work I have found out that women needed to first gain roles in politics and become MP’s etc, so that they could have power and be able to use it to allow them to be heard, which is exactly what they have done.
What is the vote and how does it work?
In a democracy, a government is chosen by voting in an election. The formal definition for a vote is an expression or opinion made by an individual or a body of individuals. The reason I wanted to research this topic was because I think it will provide me with background information on the vote and will help to understand better and answer how great a significance gaining the vote was or wasn’t.
The voting system is the method in which the government use to elect representatives. There are 3 main voting systems which are used to elect suitable candidates depending on their role. The First-Past-the-Post is a method which is used where we elect MP’s for the House of Commons. Voters vote at a local election, by placing a cross next to their favoured candidate’s name. Voters normally base their vote on the opinions and viewpoints of each candidate. The second method is Alternative Vote (AV). This method is used when electing the majority of chairs of select committees in the house. It works by candidates ranking the candidates from 1-3. The third method is called the supplementary vote which is used to elect the mayor of London and other elected mayors in England and Wales. The supplementary vote works very similar to the AV voting method however voters pick a first preference and a second preference.
The importance of voting is that it was the first major political imprint women made, and from then on their role in politics has slowly expanded. This helped me to understand how it all started out for women as this was their first involvement in politics, which was made a law. It was the first official law made that allowed women a role in politics. It was a turning point in British history for women. They had gained similar power as public men had when voting.
What prevents women from entering politics? To understand why the struggle has been so menacing for women is because they’ve had barriers preventing them from politics, right from the start. The source I used for this was the book I talked about in my Literature Review.
From reading the book I found out that, in many religions books and the way that languages, like French, are written, males are more dominant. The result is that, from birth, women are condemned to be part of humanity’s invisible class. Another reason, the most apparent barrier is the pre-conceived idea that they ‘belong at home’. This is because women have always taken on the most domestic labour in their families. Therefore, women who are choosing to get political involved in politics, face an even greater challenge of reconciling domestic labour with job-related duties, which may explain why so few young mothers associate with politics and run for MP’s. Therefore limiting and putting women at a disadvantage who do want to become politicians. This goes to show some of challenges and arguments presented against women, when they were trying to win the vote or create laws of equal pay in the workforce.
Also, even women in power, like Queen Victoria, held a barrier up against women suffrage, she said ‘With the vote women would become the most hateful, heartless and disgusting of human beings. Where would be the protection which man was intended to give to the weaker sex?’ In 1870, Queen Victoria had also written "let women be what God intended, a helpmate for man, but with totally different duties and vocations." These quotes goes to show that even a women in power herself, who held potentially the most important role in Britain as the Queen, was against political equality in Britain. She didn’t believe women were equal to man.
What political rights did women gain?
What I mean by political rights is that political rights entail the power to participate directly or indirectly in the establishment or administration of government, such as the right of citizenship, the right to vote, and the right to hold public office. In the past women have never had any of these rights and only in the past few centuries have they started to become politically equal to men.
A patriarchal power structure ensured that women were inferior to men and not entitled the same rights as men. During the whole of the nineteenth century, women had no political rights though there had been some movement in other areas to advance the rights of women. All but 100yrs ago did women start to start to outline a path in politics.
In ancient Greece, women weren’t even classed as human citizens under the law. They were bought up by their fathers and then arranged a marriage to a man of their father’s choice. Women had no rights. They had always been inferior to men.
In the early twentieth century women were still living very stereotypical roles. Many boys were given the chance to go to school read and write, where as girls usually stayed at home learning to sew and cook. This is another attribute which put women at a disadvantage to men in politics, as it is a role which requires a lot of knowledge and education; something which wasn’t offered to a lot of women.
The first major act which was presented in favour of women’s political rights was in 1907: under the Qualification of Women Act, women can be elected onto borough and county councils and can also be elected mayor. This act was established two years after Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kearney serve a prison sentence due to a rally in the middle of an election. In 1918 Women over 30 were granted the right to vote in Britain and also The Parliamentary Qualification of Women Act was passed, enabling women to stand as MP. Following that in 1920 The Sex Discrimination Removal Act allowed women access to the legal professions and accountancy. This allowed women the right to choose a career path of their choice. It wasn’t until 1928 that the suffragettes achieved their goal of equal rights to vote as men as in 1928 all women in Britain gained equal voting rights with men. This was a major success for every woman in Britain and some even described it as it felt like they’d been emancipated. Women have continued to progress towards political equality as in 1958 The Life Peerages Act entitles women to sit in the House of Lords for the first time. Baroness Swanbourough, Lady Reading and Baroness Barbara Wooton were the first to take their seats.
From then on women used the laws to their favour and choose career paths like politics and teachers so they could try and gain political equality and tried to teach the younger generation the importance of equality.
Is Political Equality for women important?
As I explained earlier what political equality is, I have gathered different views to analyse and evaluate whether or not it’s important. What I mean by if it’s important is how is it important to women, how has it helped them to achieve their current status in politics and what does it show. Also I will be looking at, if women need political equality to achieve substantially important roles in politics or if they can accomplish roles in politics without laws and regulations being made.
History shows us that women have undoubtedly advanced in politics mainly due to certain laws being made to ensure political equality and this fast progressive achievement is due to the laws and legislations set by the British government. An example which I have already bought up is the vote. Without the vote being granted for women they would never have achieved their current status, or not as quickly. With the help of the equal rights act it has been easier for women to progress towards their goals in politics without so much discrimination, they just had to prove themselves more, and still do, showing that they still face barriers. History clearly shows that political equality for women is important to them as women have not given up, evidently this is shown by the fight for the vote, were someone fought to their death in order to be heard. And upon achieving the vote women were more actively involved in British politics and also allowed women to take more interest in their country and help to lead it by becoming MP’s and Ministers.
However some people still believe in patriarchal attitudes; women should always be inferior to men. This is palpably shown in many religions. A quote from the New Testament shows Christian views to women in authority (a power which is identified with politics) ‘A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.’ Timothy 2:11-12. This quote demonstrates how women shouldn’t have any role above a man and seen as politics is a hierarchy job it requires superiority and power below those of you. Therefore it also insinuates that women shouldn’t concern themselves with political equality as they aren’t equal to men, seeing as they don’t have the freedom of speech as it says they should learn in quietness. Christians may say that political equality isn’t something that women shouldn’t concern themselves with. I understand where these viewpoints come from and the reasoning as the bible was written in many years ago, where women were inferior to men, but due to the advancing in society, the views in the bible hold more traditional beliefs, which are being disagreed with. My viewpoint on this question is that if political equality didn’t exist, where would women be now? I took my viewpoint from looking at the perspective of if political equality didn’t exist. No one can know what would have happened but without equality in the workforce women may possibly be still at home, nurturing children and being inferior to men. Therefore it is important for women to achieve equality, not just in politics but in society as well, and without laws being made I think women would have had a much more difficult time trying to become MP’s as many people would be against them.
What does the progress women have achieved in politics and society show towards gaining political equality?
Throughout the past 100 years women have created an authoritative figure, not just in society but also in politics, all starting with the campaigning from the suffragettes. Previously I’ve talked about the progress that women have made from the late 1800’s to the early 2000’s.
Information from a recent study has shown the number of female MP’s belonging to each individual political party. It shows that the general trend is that the number of female MP’s in Britain has increased gradually from 24 in 1945 and to 143 in 2012. The percentage of women to men has also increased from 3.8% to 22%. However this number is still less than a quarter of the candidates, but with this continuous growth it shows that they should eventually achieve political equality, whether or not that’s referred to as being equal number of female or male MP’s (50/50) or to something else entirely. But the main thing is that women are increasing their presence in politics and shows that women are gaining more opportunities to be involved with politics, as a major issue as to why women weren’t allegeable for a job in this career was due to their commitments with family life.
Also some people may believe that as women have achieved equality in many other aspects of society for example education, they can achieve equality in politics, just not as quickly as it is more male dominated area and isn’t as fundamentally important compared to education. Also women have also gained equality in sports as previously; only male athletes were allowed to participate. The first Olympic game where women were allowed to participate was in Paris 1900. They started off by only, partaking in lawn tennis and golf. Gradually, the number of events which women were allowed to compete in slowly increased, up until now where the majority of countries allow women to participate and whatever sport males can participate in so can women.
However all of the suffragette attempts to gain equality have not been as successful, mainly due to their approach on the matter. This is presented in history by the suffragettes who were considered more violent than the suffragists, even though their main aim was only to help as they believe that two heads are better than one. They went to major efforts to get their point across and some far more drastic then others. It started off when Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney, shouted at a pair of politicians –one being Winston Churchill- as they had refused to answer their question on whether or not women should be allowed to vote. They also burned down churches; vandalised Oxford Street; chained themselves to Buckingham Palace as the Royal Family were seen to be against women having the right to vote; they hired out boats, sailed up the Thames and shouted abuse through loud hailers at Parliament as it sat; others refused to pay their tax. Politicians were attacked as they went to work. Their homes were fire bombed. Golf courses were vandalised. Due to these antics the women’s suffrage did gain a negative audience, and many politicians did wonder if educated women like Emily Davison, who were willing to die because they didn’t get what they wanted, were eligible to vote, due to their irrational behaviour. However this could also show their devotion and the importance of gaining the vote for them. Also many women complained about the adamant men who were not even listening to their perspectives. They believed the only way to get their point across was to resort to violence. This shows that the progress that women have made has also had negative effects on gaining political equality. Moreover this could possibly have a negative effect on women achieving political equality, as some men may still feel that they aren’t fitted for carrying a role in politics, this also goes to show that Fredrick Ryland’s quote in 1896, to the suffragists ‘Political power in many large cities would chiefly be in the hands of young, ill-educated, giddy, and often ill-conducted (badly behaved girls’ could possibly hold some truth behind it. I believe the progress that women have and are making is proving to be in favour of women gaining political equality and erasing discrimination against them as they are becoming more respected and valued.
What setbacks have women faced?
The women's Suffrage movement faced a lot of opposition from those who felt that politics was not something women should be involved in, from the parliament as well as the general public. Many women, as well as men, opposed to women's suffrage. They thought that women could have a more significant influence in the private sphere than the public one.
An event in the early 20th century is considered to be a set back as it interfered with their campaign for the vote. The First World War took place from 1914-1918, just after the incident with Emily Davison. Many people believe that the war interfered with women’s campaign for the vote and put a hold on their protests. Whether this was a good thing or a bad thing for some politicians; they were granted peace form the suffrages and they even volunteered to help out in the war. However in a way you could say that the war provided women with the perfect chance to prove themselves to men and show them that they can handle responsibility and work together. This is one of the main reasons the government agreed to grant women the vote in 1918 (however this only included women over the age of 30, where as men could be 21+). Therefore the war didn’t grant women with equal voting rights but a step in the right direction, which helped them to progress further.
However some people still do argue that the 4 year war set women back in time and would have granted them with completely equal voting rights if they had continued with protesting. They believe the parliament only passed the bill as a thank you towards their help in the war. They believe the limited voting regulation for women was given as the parliament thought that they wouldn’t protest any further and it would keep them at bay, but eventually after 10 more year’s women gained equal voting rights (1928).
Many people believe that women’s role in politics has either been stunted or even reversed. This is shown as; women are now losing what little input they had. In 2008/09, the number of women applying for Queen's Counsel was at its lowest level in 10 years. Higher up, there is only one female judge on the UK Supreme Court and just 15 of 109 High Court judges are female. I couldn’t find any information on people’s opinions as to why they believe this has occurred but some people believe other countries are advancing further than us as Britain is ranked 69th in the world based on the amount of female MP’s. This is behind Pakistan, Afghanistan, and United Arab Emirates, three countries which hold strong cultural beliefs against women equality. This goes to show that as these countries gained the vote 30years after British women, they have made much more progress and you could even say that they have been more successful.
What does the number of female MP’s in each political party show?
There are currently 146 female MP’s out of a total of 650 members of parliament (these figures are from the 2010 election). In each individual party the number of females differs. It goes to show that women haven’t all been treated the same by certain political parties, or that even that women generally prefer a certain party’s views over another. This is shown by the amount of women each political party have.
Labour party have 86 female MP’s and 169 male MP’s. This shows that a third of the labour party are female. This may be because of two reasons. Labour party promote equality for women better than the other party’s as they have the most women or that their ideas and plans for Britain appeal more to women. This may have something to do with them being left wing.
The Conservative Party have 47 female MP’s and 257. This is still a representative amount of females but however compared to the 257 males, women are definiently the minority. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean conservatives aren’t as supportive for political equality for women as the first women Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, was in fact a conservative leader.
The Liberal Democrats only have 7 females out of 57 MP’s. Taking into account it’s the smallest of the three main political parties, it still lacks many females.
I found a graph online showing the number of female MP’s belonging to each party since 1945. It shows that during the 1990s, labour massively increased the number of female MP’s by around 60, where as other party’s like conservatives only gained many female MPs in the mid 2000s. However there increase was marginal compared to the amount of female labour MP’s. On the other hand though, in the late 2000s, it shows that labour decreased their amount of female MPs by 20.
I think this goes to show that the amount of female MP’s in Politics in still lacking, but keeping in mind it has only been less than a century that women have started to be accepted in to politics so obviously over time these numbers may increase.
Conclusion
Political equality is women having the same and equal political right as men. Now as I have discussed women do have the same political rights as men, in the eyes of the law
-They are able to vote just like men are.
- They are able to stand as MP’s and work their way up into to party cabinets and even become Prime Ministers.
-They are able to have a say in laws that are passed.
-They have been accepted in to political parties.
Looking at the numbers of female MP’s and the lack of female presentation in politics, it shows that they are still a minority, but I think over time women can achieve roughly equal numbers to men it’ll just take a matter of time. I believe this because; I think women have broken all the barriers that prevented them in the first place.
I believe that in time women will achieve political equality. Legislations have been put in place in order of them to do so and also with progression in our modern society women will hold the exact same roles and positions just as easily as men.
Even though women have produced laws like no discrimination women still aren’t paid equally as men, this goes to show that even the law isn’t powerful enough to dismiss patriarchal attitudes. I don’t think discrimination against women will diminish, mainly due to traditional religious beliefs.

Evaluation
Overall whilst completing the higher project, I learnt a lot about how the British political system works and I found it very informative. I think this will be a great advantage in the future i.e. when I’ll be able to vote.
Strengths
I think my major strength was using a wide range of sources to find a varied amount of information. As when I started typing up my project I easily could come up with some sub topics, to discuss in my question as I had already done lots of previous research. However due to all the time I spent researching, may have also been a disadvantage as, near the end of my project I didn’t have enough time type my conclusion and evaluation up, and it wasn’t as planned as much as the rest of my project was.
Weaknesses
My main weakness was time management as at the end of my project, I had to rush slightly to meet the deadlines set by my supervisor. I think that this is due to not realising how long it would take me to evaluate all my information and come to my decision. Also I delayed time when I had to start writing up my project as I didn’t know how to put my research into words, and start my project.
What I could do to improve next time?
I believe that my time management wasn’t as efficient as I got near to the end of my project so therefore I had to cut out a few areas of research for example, I wanted to research if by having a queen in charge has it affected how women were seen in politics and if this encouraged women to become involved in politics. Also I decided to email a local MP for a source of primary information but I was unable to get a reply, and I think if I had emailed her early I may have been able to find another source of information.
What have I learnt?
The main thing I learnt was how to plan a project; I think this will be very helpful at university. Also I have learnt how to create a literature review and how to analyse and evaluate sources and what makes them reliable and credible. Moreover, as this is the first major dissertation I’ve written I’ll be able to learn from my mistakes and be more prepared for higher education.

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[ 1 ]. http://www.abolish-power.org/PPE.html
[ 2 ]. http://www.parliament.uk/education/online-resources/parliament-explained/women-in-politics/
[ 3 ]. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/law
[ 4 ]. http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/
[ 5 ]. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vote
[ 6 ]. http://www.ukpolitical.info/FemaleMPs.htm
[ 7 ]. http://www.topendsports.com/events/summer/women.htmbn