The 1910s: ‘We have sanitised our history of the suffragettes’
While suffragettes conducted a nationwide bombing campaign, suffragists petitioned peacefully, showing the women’s movement was as fractured then as it is today
The 1920s: ‘Young women took the struggle for freedom into their personal lives’
With the first world war having debunked ideas of duty, sacrifice and the greater good, women learned to value their individuality above the needs of others
My suffragette great-grandma would be proud and cross at today's councils
Gill Steward
Women like me make up just a third of council chiefs – and the local authority gender pay gap persists. There’s still work to do
The 1940s: ‘Britain’s wartime women gained a new sense of power’
With the second world war raging, women were conscripted into work of national importance, exploding the myth that they weren’t up to it. Yet they were still expected to go on running the home
‘Optimism came easy as a young woman in the 1950s - a colourless world was opening up’
After the second world war, our mothers were like caged lions at home. Lucky for us, cracks were appearing in that oppressive, conformist world – this was the age of Elvis and CND marches
Monica Ali on feminism in the 2000s: ‘I hadn’t truly considered the impact of children’
The Brick Lane novelist’s student dreams of imminent gender equality had drowned in a sea of nappies, but then she re-engaged with feminism’s new individualism
Diane Abbott on feminism in the 1980s: ‘It was so exciting being in a hall full of black women’
The rise of black feminist politics was of particular importance in a decade that saw inspiring council leaders ensure a voice for radical feminism and real change in the mainstream
Joan Bakewell on feminism in the 1970s: ‘Might a woman read the news?’ I asked. ‘Absolutely not’
While writers from Germaine Greer to Polly Toynbee brought feminism into public discourse, institutional change proved harder to foster – even with the Equal Pay Act
Manchester celebrates women gaining the vote - February 1918
How the Guardian reported celebrations in Manchester, home of the suffrage movement, to mark the passing of the Representation of the People Act, 100 years ago
