Qualification of Women Act – 100 Years Later

21st November, 2018

Today marks the centenary of the Qualification of Women Act. This means that it has been 100 years since women over the age of 21 were allowed to stand for Parliament and become MPs even though only women over the age of 30 could vote. It would be another 10 years, in 1928, before women would gain voting equality with men.

In the following hundred years, we have had fewer than 500 women gain seats in Westminster, which is not even a full Parliament’s worth, and is nothing compared to the more than 4,500 men MPs we have had.

Whilst this was a huge moment of progress, we are by no means done. I sat down with my sister, Maria to chat about what the Act means to us, and how we can continue fighting the fight for women’s rights.

Centenary of Women in Parliament

Today marks the centenary of the Qualification of Women Act. This means that it has been 100 years since women over the age of 21 were allowed to stand for Parliament and become MPs even though only women over the age of 30 could vote. It would be another 10 years, in 1928, before women would gain voting equality with men.In the following hundred years, we have had fewer than 500 women gain seats in Westminster, which is not even a full Parliament’s worth, and is nothing compared to the more than 4,500 men MPs we have had.Whilst this was a huge moment of progress, we are by no means done. I sat down with my sister, Maria to chat about what the Act means to us, and how we can continue fighting the fight for women’s rights.

Posted by Angela Eagle on Wednesday, November 21, 2018