Do young women value the vote which was so hard fought for 100 years ago?

I WAS 21 in May 1952 when I attained the vote. There was no general election until 1955, by which time I was living in Fulham, where I was on that electoral roll and was working in Surbiton, across the river. I was telling my manager at the office that I could not vote and was upset because this would be my first opportunity since I reached voting age. His concern was such that he drove me to Fulham to vote and back to Surbiton to continue my day’s work. As they would say today . . . job done. I vowed at the time that I would never miss polling day, be it a local or general election, and now I am in my late 80s I have kept that vow. I am appalled when I hear younger people say they don’t understand politics (or can’t be bothered). Why don’t they try to improve their understanding of who has control of our lives? Looking back to the

struggles of the suffragettes and suffragists, we should thank them for bringing about the end of such injustice. As for votes at 16, I think youngsters would do more good taking time to prepare themselves for voting at 18 and then make use of that. I live in hope that there will be fewer low turnouts so results will give a better picture of how the voters feel about the elected candidates.

Winifred JoneS, twyford, Berks.

QUITE rightly, a lot of publicity is being given to the fight by women for the right to vote. Without the early campaigners, equality for women might not have reached today’s levels. However, I am disappointed that while praising the brave women from a century ago, little coverage is given to those who have set back the causes of women to the Middle Ages. We now have hundreds of women walking the streets with covered faces and, allegedly in at least some cases of postal voting, casting votes the way their husbands tell them to.

PHil SoSKin, rickmansworth, Herts.

WHAT a wonderful statue in Parliament Square of Millicent Fawcett depicting not only Votes for Women, but what all these suffragists did for us. I remember my mother making a point of going to vote in the elections in the Fifties, dragging me along reluctantly (I was about eight) and telling me this story about why her vote was so important. Her mother, my granny, had 12 children. Once she got the vote, my grandad specifically told her to vote Labour and nothing else. She voted Conservative and when Grandad asked, she lied. She told my mother she didn’t like telling Grandad a lie, but it was the only thing in her life that belonged solely to her. Unbelievable in this day and age. I am so grateful for this story and also grateful for all those women for such a wonderful achievement.

Mrs WendY ClarK, lincoln.