Gloriously, last week saw the 100th anniversary of women being given the right to vote – one of the most important things that Parliament has ever done – though we are still ten years short of a century since equal suffrage (in 1918 only women over thirty and property owners were brought into the franchise).
I frequently find my route between meetings in the Palace of Westminster takes me through Westminster Hall which houses New Dawn, a work of art celebrating one hundred years of women's suffrage.
This sits just yards from the entrance to the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft where Emily Wilding Davison hid herself in a broom cupboard on census night in 1911 so she could record her address as “The House of Commons”. In St Stephen’s Hall, a statue of Viscount Falkland is still missing a spur, broken off when Margery Humes chained herself to it in 1909 during a protest.
Palace of Westminster records show suffragettes were regularly thrown out of the building for throwing things, breaking windows and chaining themselves to statues. These women did not have the vote but they knew how to protest. And while they had the support of many women and men, the suffrage movement suffered abuse and intimidation from those who disagreed with the cause.
Sadly, although the right to vote has changed, abuse and intimidation of many of those fighting for a cause, including politicians, has not. The internet allows cowards to hide behind the anonymity of a social media account to spew not just disagreement or the odd nasty comment, but vile threats of physical and sexual abuse.
Theresa May and the Conservatives have a proud record of promoting women in politics. The first woman to sit in the House of Commons was a Conservative and we were the first party in the western world to elect a female Prime Minister. We are now working hard in Government to give women greater financial security, better pay, and equal opportunities in the workplace as well as striving to end violence against women and girls.
As the PM said on the anniversary last week, we must also call out and stamp out, more generally, online intimidation and aggression in public life. We want more women to stand for public office, and online abuse deters many from doing so.
To celebrate 100 years since the Representation of the People Act, a series of free talks for visitors, focusing on the suffrage campaign and women in Parliament will take place throughout the year. More information is available online at http://www.parliament.uk/vote100-tours-talks.