PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
150th ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1866 VOTES FOR WOMEN PETITION (5 June 2016)

That this House celebrates the 150th anniversary of the first mass petition for women's suffrage on 7 June 1866 which marked the start of the organised campaign for votes for women; salutes the many women who organised it and gathered signatures including Barbara Bodichon, Emily Davies, Elizabeth Garrett and Helen Taylor; acknowledges the role of supportive men including John Stuart Mill MP who presented the petition to Parliament and asked Mary Somerville to be the first signatory of a subsequent petition in 1868; notes that the struggle for votes for women continued until 1928; recognises the role of the suffragists led by Millicent Fawcett who campaigned using peaceful methods such as petitioning, lobbying and marching; further recognises the role of the suffragettes led by Emmeline Pankhurst and others who used militant tactics; welcomes 'New Dawn' the permanent work of art celebrating the campaign for votes for women in Parliament commissioned by the Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art to be unveiled on 7 June 2016; and further notes that Parliament has plans to mark 100 years of the vote for some women and all men in 2018 including a big exhibition in Westminster Hall.

Sponsored by:
Helen Goodman (Labour)