If you live in the UK I think you all know that it is election day  today. It’s a general election, who is going to be the Prime Minister and in charge of this country the next 5 years?

I’ve always been very interested in politics and I studied it for 5 years in my 20s and 30s where I specialized in international studies. I graduated with a masters degree, so as you probably understand this is something I think is very important. I’m also a history geek so I thought I was going to write a post today which I hope can encourage women that haven’t voted yet to do so cause it is so important.

Why it is important? Well first of all it is important as it is a fundamental part of a democracy. The word democracy means “rule of people” and even if we don’t have a total democracy, we have a representative democracy (electoral democracy), this means that we can go and elect someone to be our representative in the government to speak our case. This is the most common form of democracy. You also have direct democracy, like for instance Switzerland has, which gives each citizen more direct control over what is happening in their country. So here in UK you have to go and cast your vote for the person you agree mostly with on things that are important to you. So this is why it is so extremely important to vote and have a say when you have the chance, cause or otherwise your opinions are wasted.

We are lucky to have freedom of speech so why shouldn’t we use our right for a change when we can? It’s also a duty we have to the rest of the society to gain enough information so we can each make our minds up and take a stand, to get a grasp of what is happening around us.

Another thing we have to remember as well, especially as women, our ancestors fought a long and hard battle for us to be able to vote. Most women of today take it for granted that they can vote. Well it has not always been like this and still isn’t in many countries. We are very fortunate to live in a place where we are able to give our opinions as women and be taken seriously. And for that we have a lot of brave women to thank for.

Me being a Norwegian, I can proudly say that Norway was of the first countries in the world to give all women the right to vote, as we got the right as early as 1913, compared to UK that followed 15 years later. Finland was the first country in Europe, to have universal suffrage: First country to give the right to vote and right to stand for elections to everyone of age regardless of wealth, race or social class so the Nordic countries were pioneers in womens right to vote. New Zeland were very early with their work and success for womens suffrage as New Zealand allowed women to vote from 1893.

So why did it take so long before UK followed when most of Europe had followed suit with granting women the right to vote? Was it pure arrogance from the English government? Was it the war? Was it other causes? Cause the women started battling for the right to vote almost 100 years before they got it. It didn’t lack of women that fought the battles. Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters are probably most well known for it. I remember learning about her in school in Norway and I was very fascinated. Emmeline was leader for the suffragette movement, WSPU. She started out battling her cause in very peaceful manners, but in 1905 after yet again the government rejected to give the women right to vote so they changed tactics. They went on to using a very militant approach as she was so frustrated with the government and their ignorance. On the other side, with more peaceful ways to get her word, out was Millicent Fawcett. She was an opposition to the suffragettes and leader of NUWSS. A lot of women disliked the radical activity that the suffragettes were doing. Even using a different approach, they fought the same battle. The battle took a bit of a “break” during WWI, but women proved themselves as a great workforce and first-aid workers while the men were fighting the war, so after the war it became very difficult for the government to ignore us women.. Women over 30 were granted the right to vote in 1918, and in 1928 it was decided that all women over the age of 21 could vote. So it is something that was fought for for decades and that is something we should stop and think about today when so many of us don’t vote. It shouldn’t be taken for granted that we can vote and today is the day we can show that we are grateful for what these women did.



That is why I have dressed up in the colours white, green and purple to honor them and join up under the #whitegreenpurple and vote!!!

(sorry for a bit bad photos, I just had to take them quickly in my lunch break with my phone)






So if you still haven't voted, get up, out and vote. The doors are open till 10!!!!

The other girls that are taking part in this challenge is

http://www.adventuresofariotgrrrl.com/

www.acurvycupcake.com

Xxxx Mookie

P.S This post might not be 100% factually correct as I couldn't check all the facts before posting.