On the 14th December 1918, British and Irish women over 30 were able to cast a vote in a general election for the first time, following the passing of the Representation of the People Act earlier in the year. Several women were also able to stand as candidates. To mark the 100th anniversary of this event, the University of Oxford Women in the Humanities forum have spearheaded an initiative to have the banner of the Oxford Women’s Suffrage Society flown above departments and colleges across the city. The banner was created by the society in 1908.
A larger replica is also on display in the Weston Library as part of the Sappho to Suffrage: Women Who Dared exhibition. It is hoped that the banners will be unfurled again each year in March, to celebrate Women’s History Month.
Further information: Women in the Humanities and Sappho to Suffrage exhibition
Written by Laura Hankins