Politics

WSPU poster by Hilda Dallas, 1909.

1818 – Jeremy Bentham in favour of women voting1865 – John Stuart Mill MP argues for women to get the vote

1894 – Local Government Act (women who owned property could vote in local elections.

1908 – the first woman to serve as mayor of a town

• 5 July 1909 –the first hunger strike•1909 The Women's Tax Resistance League founded•September 1909 – Force feeding introduced to hunger strikers in English prisons•1905, 1908, 1913 – 3 phases of WSPU militancy (Civil Disobedience – Destruction of Public Property – Arson/Bombings)

• 1903 – Women's Social and Political Union WSPU is formed (led by Emmeline Pankhurst)

• 1918 – The Representation of the People Act of 1918 The vote was given to women over the age of 30 who were either a member or married to a member of the Local Government Register. About 8.4 million women gained the vote.[3]

•November 1918 – the Eligibility of Women Act was passed, allowing women to be elected into Parliament.[3]

•1928 – Women received the vote on the same terms as men (over the age of 21) as a result of the Representation of the People Act 1928.[4]

Votes cast in 2010 election  Voting    

  Con Lab LD Oth Conleadover Lab

 Turn-out

  % % % % ± %  

Gender

Male 38 28 22 12 1066%

Female 36 31 26 8 464%

The table below shows the number of female Members of Parliament elected; the percentage of female MPs; and the total number of female

candidates standing for election.

1945 24 MPs 3.8% 87 Candidates1974 27 4.35% 1611983 23 3.5% 280 1997 120 18.2% 6722010 143 22% 861

Members of Parliament(M.P.s)

Houses of Parliament

House of Commons 504 Men (Elected) 146 WomenHouse of Lords 642 Men(Nominated or Hereditary) 181 Women

House of LordsMargaret Haig Thomas, Viscountess Rhondda (1883–1958) was the daughter of David Alfred ('D.A.') Thomas, first Viscount Rhondda (1856–1918), a member of the House of Lords. As he had no sons he had made a special request for her daughter to be able to take his title after he died. However this did not entitle her to take his seat in the Upper House.

1958 Women allowed to become Life Peers for the first time.

2013 22% of the total.

Prime Minister

Trained as a chemist and a lawyer

Britain’s First Woman Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher 1979-92

Education..

First to empower womenIn 1878 the University of London became the first university in the UK to admit women to its degrees (Oxford and Cambridge did not formally award degrees to women until 1920 and 1947 respectively). By 1900, over 30 per cent of the 536 graduating students were women.

Law

Section 2(3) of the Supreme Court Act 1981 provides that ordinary judges of the Court of Appeal be styled “Lords Justices of Appeal'' and Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, who was the first woman judge in the Court of appeal was first known as Lord Justice Butler Sloss. This only goes to show how much of a “man's world'' the justice system is.

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 28 March 2013

The Royal Courts of Justice, which houses the court of appeal of England and Wales.

.

Three women judges are to be promoted from the high court to the court of appeal, alongside seven men.Given the relatively small number of female judges in the high court who are thought to have sought positions as appeal judges, this must be regarded as steady but encouraging progress towards increasing the proportion of women among the senior judiciary.

Britain's most senior judge takes aim at gender imbalanceThe Guardian, Tuesday 5 March 2013

Lord NeubergerThe stereotypical image of judges as male and white may be so deeply entrenched that there could be an "unconscious bias" against women, the United Kingdom's most senior judge has suggested.Last month the UK supreme court appointed three new justices – as its judges are known – to bring it up to its full complement of 12. All three – Lord Justice Hughes, Lord Justice Toulson and Lord Hodge – are men; there is only one woman, Lady Hale, on the court. In addition, fewer women applied to be QCs in the latest round of appointments.

Neuberger does not favour positive discrimination. "The British people are entitled to have the best judges they can get," he said, "… and I think it's slightly patronising in our field to have a special place for women."Neuberger believes appointing more part-time judges, even on the supreme court, may help encourage the promotion of women. "Women are much more likely to think I'm not good enough … We should think of going to women … and encouraging them to be to apply for promotion. "We can also look at academics. There are more women in the academic world. It's easier to manage life in the academic world with family commitments."Pressure in the City and elsewhere was subtle, he said. "It's more difficult for men to take time off than women to look after the children. It will be regarded as wimpy for the man to do it and then the woman is the one whose career suffers because she can get time off and then she has her card marked."I don't pretend this will end up with us having 50% women in the judiciary within 10 years. I think it reflects society, largely. But we can be doing things … The majority [of judges] are male and white and public school and that reflects society and law firms and the bar."

FamilyOf the 23.4 million households in England

and Wales in 2011, 1.7 million (7.2%) consisted of lone parents with dependent children; this increased from 2001 when the comparable figure was 1.4 million (6.5%). 

Around 9 in every 10 lone-parent households were headed by a woman, both nationally and across English regions and Wales

ViolenceTable 7.6 Number of violent incidents against men and women by violence category 2011/12England and Wales      

  Number of incidents (thousands)

 Men Women All

        All violence1 1,265 786 2,051

        Wounding 321 177 498 Assault with minor injury 255 186 441

Assault without injury 503 355 857

Robbery 186 68 254        

Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics

Table 2.05: Offences currently recorded as homicide1 for all victims by relationship of victim to principal suspect and sex of victim, 2001/02 to 2011/12

                     

England and Wales                      

 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

  Numbers

Male victims                      

Victim acquainted with suspect                      

Partner/ex-partner 29 30 26 39 23 29 30 32 19 22 17Total known 238 215 251 260 208 256 278 241 220 257 200

                       

Female victims                      

Victim acquainted with suspect                      

Partner/ex-partner 117 106 96 106 90 91 80 101 96 95 88Total known 180 191 157 176 145 140 155 151 152 159 135

All victims                      

Victim acquainted with suspect                      

Son or daughter 43 54 38 34 29 40 48 33 44 42 29

Parent 22 23 32 22 20 10 26 22 21 24 18

Partner/ex-partner 146 136 122 145 113 120 110 133 115 117 105

Other family 22 18 22 25 21 19 33 14 27 20 24

Friend/acquaintance 185 175 194 210 170 207 216 190 165 213 159

Total known 418 406 408 436 353 396 433 392 372 416 335