THE SUFFRAGETTES WOULD BE PROUD
gave the Romans a bloody nose for flogging her and gang raping her daughters.
During her rebellion, she sacked Colchester, St Albans and London.
Queen Victoria (widowed, nine children) does not really count, because by her day Parliament was more powerful than the monarch.
Equality
For centuries it was religion which did most to suppress the rights of women. But in the early days of both Christianity and Islam it was very different.
The Bible makes clear that Mary Magdalene was the one disciple who understood what Jesus was on about.
The 12 male apostles were exasperatingly dim, constantly having to ask Jesus to repeat what he had just said. Mary is there at the crucifixion when most of the blokes have run away, and she is given the honour of being first to discover the resurrection.
It was women who bankrolled Jesus’s ministry to keep p the show on the road.
And so in early y Christianity women had equality with th men. And it was this inclusiveness ss which made the new religionn so attractive to female followers. wers.
Once men got t control of the church, women men were squeezed out. It was not until last year that hat the Church of England managed aged to appoint its first woman bishop – and even then, not without opposition. ion.
In Muhammad’s d’s day during the Seventh Century, Islam also embraced women as equals. It was only later that they had to cover up. Muhammad’s edict that men could take up to four wives was not for the sexual exploitation or oppression of women but for their welfare. It ensured that if they werew widowed when their warrior h husbands died in battle theythe and their orphan children would be looked after. Muhammad Muhammad’s first mosque had the huts forf his wives around it. This was to show the sexual, sacredsac and domestic were fullyf integrated and there was no discriminationdiscrim betweenbet men and women.w Wives had to be treated equally and could initiate divorce proceedings, while husbands could not seize their property – all rights that Western women were not to enjoy until the 19th century.
Women have achieved much since the 1918 Representation of the People Act granted votes to all men over the age of 21 and women over the age of 30.
The age discrepancy was to ensure that men did not become a minority of voters because of the huge numbers killed during the First World War.
The goal for modern politics, then, is that it should be gender equal and gender neutral.
In that way there will soon not be anything remarkable about women reaching the very top. trumps Theresa. And when asked whether they thought Mrs May or Mr Corbyn was a strong leader, only 13 per cent backed the Labour boss and 55 per cent went for the PM.
Four in ten reckon Jez is incompetent. But he still has an 11 point lead over her as the political leader who most understands ordinary people.
He also beats Mrs May for honesty. But he was upset yesterday when shown our poll to discover nearly one in five voters reckon he’s “nasty”.
“Oh, goodness,” he said. “Eighteen per cent of people think I’m nasty.
“I would like to talk to them all.”
ComRes interviewed 2,097 adults online between Wednesday and Friday.