Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918

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The Parliament (Qualification of Women Act) 1918 is a law of the English Parliament. In 1918 it gave women over the age of 21 the right to run for election to parliament. It did not change the minimum age for a woman to vote, which was set at 30 years old by the Representation of the People Act 1918 . It was not until 1928 that the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 granted women full electoral equality, that is, the age was set at 21.

At 27 words, this law is the shortest law in the UK .

Effects

The Representation of the People Act 1918 was passed on February 6, 1918 and gave approximately 8.4 million women the right to vote. And it led to the enactment of the complementary Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act. In the 1918 election to the House of Commons, 17 women ran for a seat, including the well-known suffragette Christabel Pankhurst , who ran for the Women's Party in the Smethwick constituency . However, the only woman elected was the Sinn Féin candidate for St. Patrick's constituency in Dublin , Constance Markievicz . Following the popular Irish political stance of “abstentionism”, she decided not to accept the Westminster seat and instead occupied a seat in the Dáil Éireann , the first Dáil, in Dublin. The first woman to take a seat in Parliament on December 1, 1919, was Nancy Astor . She was elected on November 28, 1919 as a member of parliament for a Conservative coalition in the Plymouth Sutton constituency, taking her husband's seat, which had recently become vacant.

As members of parliament, women also received the right to become members of government. The first woman to become a member of the Cabinet and Privy Council ( Privy Council) was Margaret Bondfield , who was Secretary of Labor in the MacDonald's second administration (1929-1931).

Age limits

During the debate on the law, Lord Islington explained the obvious discrepancy that women could sit in parliament when they were 21 but could only vote from the age of 30:

"... the age of thirty, which was prescribed for enfranchisement of women, was made not because women of a younger age were considered less competent to exercise the vote, but rather because the inclusion of women between the ages of twenty-one and thirty might lead to women-voters being in a majority on the register, and this was considered, too drastic a departure in the realms of constitutional experiment. Therefore the embargo on any woman below the age of thirty was placed in that measure.

In the case of eligibility to Parliament, this age condition is not necessary. The whole question of age, suitability, and competence can safely be left, and should be left, in the hands of the electorate to decide ... "

(German: ... the age of 30 years, which was prescribed for women's suffrage, was not set because the younger women were considered less competent to exercise their right to vote, but rather because they were accepted of women between 21 and 30 would have led to a majority of the voters in the electoral roll. And this was perceived as too drastic a step in the area of ​​this constitutional experiment. Therefore this exclusion of women under 30 was stipulated in this measure.
In the case of eligibility for the This age requirement is not necessary in Parliament. The entire question of age, suitability and competence can and should in principle remain in the hands of the electorate as a decision ... )

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The shortest law "Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918" consists of only 27 words: `A woman shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage from being elected to or sitting or voting as a Member of the Commons House of Parliament. ' Section 2 contains another 14 words that describe the short title
  2. ^ John Simkin: 1918 Qualification of Women Act . Spartacus Educational, 1997 Retrieved April 2, 2019
  3. ^ Courtney Wilson: Our Nancy: The Story of Nancy Astor and Her Gift to the University of Virginia . In: the website of xroads.virginia.edu, August 2004. Retrieved on April 2, 2019
  4. ^ Derek Heater: Citizenship in Britain: A History . Edinburgh University Press 2006. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-7486-2672-4
  5. ^ Hansard , November 12, 1918, volume 31

Web links

Wikisource: Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918  - Sources and full texts