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100 years of Women's Suffrage - A Personal Perspective

Posted by Sally Lees on

The celebration of women's suffrage this year marking 100 years since women were allowed to vote, or at least a small proportion of them anyway, gets me thinking of how hard life would have been for some of the women in my family who were born before me. I know for a fact that I got my entreprenerial spirit from my great-grandmother who was a self employed milliner and who by the 1940's became a freelance Spirella corsetiere. This job enabled her, through sheer hard work and despite her being widowed in her early thirties, to buy a house of her own and bring up her two children. She is also the person who gifted me my first sewing machine thus sparking a love of fashion and enabling me to make my own clothes as a hard up student.

However, generations before her had a harder time of it. Her aunt was a maid at the great Hall working for the wealthy land owners. You don't have to go back too many generations to find the hardships of past family members but my great grandmother was strong and resourceful enough to make her own way in life unlike many others who weren't as enterprising or talented as she was.

On the 20th anniversary of my business making and selling jewellery I reflect on how difficult my life might have been if I hadn't been born well into the 20th century and the lack of choices I would have had further back in time not just because of my social class but purely because I am a woman.

So100 years of celebration for women and a celebration of the resolute spirit of  all of the women across the world who are currently fighting for their rights in 2018.

#Vote100 #Votesforwomen #womenssuffrage


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