Voice and Vote: Women’s Place in Parliament

Interesting exhibition at the Houses of Parliament looking at the role of women in Parliament.
 
It’s arranged chronologically but cleverly focuses it around four spaces used by women over the years, recreating them and discussing the history of that era. It started with the Ventilator in the attic from which women viewed the actions in the house from 1818 to 1834. The picture attached is by 15 year old Georgina Chatteron of her view of how the women might have looked. This was the age of the Great Reform Act which expended voting rights to more men but no women.
 
Next was the Cage was the purpose built ladies gallery in the new Palace of Westminster which again was high up and had metal grilles over the windows. This section was used to discuss the suffrage and suffragette movements. It was moving to see prison and force feeding medals and the sign that Tony Benn had put on the broom cupboard where Emily Davidson spent the night of a census so she could list herself as being there,
 
The post suffrage era was represented by the “The Tomb” the only private space early women MPs had in Parliament and was used to tell their stories. There were profiles of all the 39 women elected to Parliament between 1918 and 1944. I loved seeing Nancy Astor’s parliamentary suit. It also discussed the introduction of women to the House of Lords.

Finally the show looked at the current chamber where women have now held most of the major roles including Prime Minister and Speaker of the House. It also looked at what remains to be done and questions any young women looking at the show about what they could do.

All in all a fascinating exhibition and a good chance to get into St Stephen’s Hall even if it is covering in scaffolding at the moment.

 
Closes on 6 October 2018

 

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