Suffragette.
It annoyed me. Whilst I am all for equality in democracy, this film ignored much of the history of enfranchisement in Britain in favour of portraying women as the oppressed and men the oppressors. Simples. The jockey who was toppled by Emily Davison.. what of him?
It should never be forgotten that the right to vote was hard won by BOTH sexes. It is also a fact that until 1918 a very large proportion of the adult male population did not have the right to vote either. By which time a lot of them had died in the trenches.
When I did a google search "when were men enfrachised in britain" I got this:
"Showing results for when were women enfranchised in britain
Search instead for when were men enfrachised in britain"
Don't get me wrong, one of my favourite politicians is the 'Red Dutchess'. Also largely forgotten and very badly treated by the party (Tory) of which she was a member.
When i took the 'search instead' option I got this:
"Did you mean: when were women enfranchised in britain"
Men had the franchise in Britain since the Magna Carta. It started with nobles-only and was only extended to all men regardless of rank or property by the 1867 Reform Act. It was extended to women over 30 firstly in 1918 and to over-21s in 1928. A look at
Google's ngrams viewer is interesting. A gander at Google Books for the two peaks would probably reveal the reasons for them - I'd guess that the second would be
The Female Eunuch.
Anyway, given that it took 650 years for all men to get the franchise, another 60 for all adults is not entirely shameful. Getting the "property-holder-only" provision removed took 35 years, 1832-1867.
The rising curve for men's suffrage is amusing in that it parallels that for women. I can imagine it stems from "what about us then?" reactions.
Haven't seen
Suffragette, BTW. I like the depiction in
Parade's End, both the books and the film.