Suffragette

This evening Kevin and I went to see the film ‘suffragette’, no need to explain what it was about! 

Watching the film, albeit a sanitised version, and after decades of women battling to get equality, I found myself thinking how fortunate I am to have been born when I was. 

 Whilst there are still barriers to be further broken down and glass ceilings to go through, I can’t imagine what it is like to live in country where you are a second class citizen.

I have enjoyed so many freedoms, choices, and opportunities in my life time, so it is difficult to comprehend not following your dreams, having a good education, poor healthcare, the possibility of endless pregnancies, and not being able to have a say in how the country is run and in the laws that are passed.

Would I have had the courage to do what those women did, would I have gone to prison for my principles, would I have coped being ostracised by my community, family, perhaps losing my home and not seeing my children? I just don’t know, as in the main I have always tried to conform to what has been expected of me, only now am I doing more of what I expect of myself!

  
At the end of the film they showed a list of other countries and where women won the right to vote and was stunned that in 1944 France gave them the vote, Italy following in 1945 and in 2015 Saudi Arabia could be the next country to follow.

It’s struck me just how much I take for granted the family I have, what I do, the home I live in, and I thank all the women who struggled and suffered to give me the privileged life I lead today!