Women's fight for the vote

Although it was almost unheard of before then, it was not until the Reform Act of 1832 that women were specifically denied the vote.
Over the next half century, a minority of women - and some men - demanded that the franchise should be extended not just to all men but to every adult, male or female.
In 1869, women rate-payers won the right to vote in some local elections and serve as poor law guardians. After 1888, women could also vote in county and borough elections.
From 1897, the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies sought to unite the many local suffrage groups. But in 1903, the Women's Social and Political Union broke away over its timid approach. Both groups were criticised by trade unionists, including Mary Macarthur, general secretary of the National Federation of Women Workers, for their willingness to accept an extension of the franchise which excluded working class women.
After the first world war, the right to vote in parliamentary elections was extended to women over 30 who were householders or the wives of householders. It would take until 1928 before men and women alike were able to vote at age 21.

The Library holds a wealth of material relating to women's fight for the vote, such as copies of the journal Votes for Women bound in suffragette colours of white, purple and green, and a badge which was presented to women as they came out of prison having been jailed for their suffragette activity. Click here to arrange a visit to the Working Class Movement Library

Explore 200 years of working class movement activism

• 1791

  Thomas Paine publishes 'Rights of man'

• 1798

  Irish Rebellion

• 1819

  Peterloo

• 1834

  Tolpuddle

• 1844

  Rochdale Pioneers

• 1848

  Kennington Common Chartist meeting

• 1867

  'Manchester Martyrs' executed

• 1868

  
  First meeting of TUC

• 1871

  Fall of the Paris Commune

• 1893

  Foundation of the Independent Labour Party

• 1913

  
  Cat and Mouse Act

• 1924

  
  First Labour government

• 1926

  General Strike

• 1931

  
  Red Megaphones first performance

• 1932

  Kinder Scout mass trespass

• 1936

  Spanish Civil War

• 1945

  Nationalisation of the coal industry

• 1948

  Birth of the NHS

• 1956

  Hungarian uprising

• 1958

  Aldermaston marches and birth of CND

• 1971

  

  Upper Clyde Shipbuilders

• 1976

  Grunwick dispute

• 1982

  

  Falklands War

• 1984

  Miners' strike

• 1990

  Nelson Mandela's  release from prison

• 1998

  

    Good Friday agreement

• 1999

  Introduction of national minimum wage

• 2001

  
  Stop the War campaign