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How suffragettes won women the vote and changed politics
Radio 1 DJ Gemma Cairney traces the history of the women鈥檚 movement in Britain and discovers how women won the vote. Before 1918 no women could vote and suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst campaigned to win the vote. Militant suffragette campaigner Emily Davison went on hunger strike in Holloway Prison and later died after running out in front of the king鈥檚 horse at the Epsom Derby in 1913.
Women won the vote in 1918 and Nancy Astor became Britain鈥檚 first woman Member of Parliament in 1919. Margaret Thatcher became the first woman Prime Minister but today there are still less than one in four women MPs compared to men. MPs Yvette Cooper and Maria Miller explain why there should be more women in British politics.
