RespectOur rights and responsibilities

On May 7th…

Who has the right to vote?

Has this always been the case?

No! Before 1832

Only men over 21 could vote. And only then if they owned a valuable property

In 1832

The Reform Act said that all men over 21 should have the vote

This was accepted by most in society until the end of the 19th century. Women began to protest for the right to vote. By the time of the first World War women had started to play a bigger role in public society and even more women got involved.

The Suffragettes…were a group of women who campaigned to get equal votes for women.

They held protests, disrupted meetings and were even sent to prison for their beliefs. Some were deliberately hurt by the police.

One, Emily Davison, even died for her beliefs. She jumped in front of the King’s horse during the Epsom Derby in 1913.

The Suffragettes"this was the beginning of a campaign the like of which was never known in England, or for that matter in any other country.....we interrupted a great many meetings......and we were violently thrown out and insulted. Often we were painfully bruised and hurt."

What happened? By 1918

Women over the age of 30 had secured the right to vote

In 1928

All men and women over the age of 21 had the right to vote

In 1969

The law was changed do that all adults over the age of 18 could vote.

Who will be voting next week?

In the 2010 election 45,597,461 people were registered to vote

65% of these actually voted

This means that nearly 16 million people didn’t vote

Some of these will have been women

I wonder what The Suffragettes would think about that?

At home… Research more about The Suffragette

movement.

Watch the news and talk to your parents about the General Election campaign.

Discuss rights and responsibilities. Can we have one without the other?

Behaviour of the Week

Respect the rights of others to learn, play and be safe at school.