Century Girls

Would you like to be a century girl or boy I.e live to 100?

I would!

In the UK when you reach 100, the monarch sends you a telegram. According to the book, I have started reading by Tessa Dunlop, called Century Girls, there are currently 14thousand people in the UK aged 100 or over. The book says that a team of 7 is employed to oversee the sending of the telegrams. Perhaps in 65 years when I’m 100; there will be so many people over 100, that telegrams would not be sent. If they were sent they would probably be sent by a King either the current Prince William or Prince George.

At the time I was born there was a Queen and a female Prime Minster, Margaret Thatcher. A couple of weeks before, I was born Harriet Harman became the first pregnant MP. At the time there were more John’s is parliament than women. Now we still have Queen Elizabeth, after a few male prime ministers there is another female prime minster; Teresa May. Therefore, I know what women can achieve. However, I also know that there are still more male than female MPs. The current female prime minster does not have children due to fertility issues. The prime minster of Australia is currently pregnant.

100 years ago in 1918, the first women in the UK gained the right to vote. Women over 30, were allowed to vote. In the same year a law was passed to allow women to be elected as MPs.

According to Wikipedia The 1918 United Kingdom general election was called immediately after the Armistice with Germany which ended the First World War, and was held on Saturday 14 December 1918. It was the first general election to be held on a single day, although the vote count did not take place until 28 December due to the time taken to transport votes from soldiers serving overseas.

In the 1918 election Constance Markievi was elected as a MP however, she did not sit in parliament due to being a member of Sein Fein. The first women to sit in parliament was Nancy Astor, she was elected following a by election in December 1919.

In Tessa Dunlop’s book 6 women alive in 1918 tell there story. The first story mentioning the events of 1918 is Ann’s. Ann Baer nee Sidgewick was born 4th April 1914. She was 4, in 1918. The biggest impact of Women Suffrage is she had a doll named Panky. Her Mother was not old enough to vote in the election. At the time her Mother was pregnant with her 5th child.