Nancy Astor, the first woman to take a seat in parliament
On 1 December 1919, 100 years ago, the American-born viscountess Nancy Astor became the first female MP to take her seat in the House of Commons. She had won the seat of Plymouth Sutton, for the Unionist (now Conservative) party, after her husband Waldorf Astor had vacated it, on his elevation to the House of Lords. Nancy Astor claimed she had not originally held any ambition to be a politician but that her husband had “put the idea” in her head.
As the first woman to enter a male-dominated parliament, Astor encountered widespread misogyny and condescension, in response to which she doled out several witty replies. “I find a woman’s intrusion into the House of Commons as embarrassing as if she burst into my bathroom when I had nothing to defend myself, not even a sponge,” quipped Winston Churchill. “You are not handsome enough to have worries of that kind,” was Astor’s tart reply. Confident and tough, with a steely determination, she frequently engaged in banter with this sparring partner and other male MPs.
Astor was a backbencher throughout her parliamentary career, which lasted until 1945. Although she never held any ministerial post, she was influential in voicing concerns of women and children that previously had been ignored or marginalised. In later life she reflected that she had been “as good a feminist as anyone”. Indeed, she was a firm believer in equality and worked with other female MPs across the political spectrum for the Equal Franchise Act of 1928 (which granted the vote to women over 21), as well as women’s entry to the diplomatic service. A temperance advocate, in 1923 she successfully introduced the first Private Member’s Bill sponsored by a female MP to ban the sale of alcohol to under 18s.
Yet the mercurial Astor became a figure of controversy, especially over her support for Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement policy with Nazi Germany in the 1930s. A member of various peace organisations, she failed to understand the threat that Hitler posed and invited several Nazi sympathisers to her home. Vilified by the press and public for fascist sympathies, Astor did not contest the 1945 general election, despite the fact that she had turned against Chamberlain in 1940.
Despite this, Astor’s place in history is assured. The first woman to participate in parliamentary discussions about law-making, she pioneered a path for female politicians who followed after. The fact that 32 per cent of MPs are now women represents progress. But the project that Astor began 100 years ago is far from complete.