It is hard to believe that universal suffrage (the right for everyone over 21 to vote) was only introduced in the UK in 1918. We were 35 years behind New Zealand, 33 years behind Southern Australia and 8 years behind the United States in introducing this reform. The Suffragettes, led by Emmeline Pankhurst, had become a radical and militant movement. Taxes were withheld and even bombs were set off. Hunger strikes and forced feeding became the norm at the time. This was a very hard fought campaign pursued at immense personal cost to some of the leaders. In 1918 some women, mainly those of financial worth, were given the right to vote. But how should the success of this movement be judged 100 years on?

At last more women are now becoming involved in politics. In the 2017 election, 208 female MPs were elected, a record but still only 32% of the House of Commons. Seven members of the cabinet are women including the Prime Minister. But the bruising and macho spectacle of Prime Minister’s question time still dominates public perception of Parliament and more family friendly hours of work are just a pipe dream. No wonder that gender balance is still so difficult to achieve.

I think we are entitled to ask if anything has changed in the past 90 years in the political process and the pursuit of that game called politics. The hope was that universal suffrage would make a difference to the political process itself. Wars pursued by men would be balanced by different concerns as women’s influence came more to the fore; and yet we live in an age where the people are again turning to strong men. From the archetypal macho Vladimir Putin in Russia and Donald Trump (although perhaps not in quite the same mould) in the USA, to the rather confusing outcome of the Italian election where the hard right won 54% of the vote, strong men are prevailing in elections. In China, Xi Jinping is lining himself up to be the new ‘Emperor’ by allowing any number of years in office. It all seems to be going the wrong way!

Of course, all of this is in danger of being stereotypical about male and female natures. Margaret Thatcher is admired or reviled precisely because of her strident approach to dealings with her cabinet and the issues she faced during her premiership. She appears to have been positively proud of her ‘Iron Lady’ tag and her defining speech had the famous line “You turn if you want to - but the lady’s not for turning”. Failing to turn on the Poll Tax was her eventual downfall. We now have Theresa May as PM and Angela Merkel still survives in Germany although both are weakened by recent election setbacks. Their respective styles are their own.

There are also signs that universal suffrage is changing the game. Judge Roy Moore in Alabama did not win his election. Woman voted in large numbers to reject a candidate tainted with allegations of sexual misconduct toward women. Theresa May herself may be more skilful in the art of conciliation than we gave her credit for. So far Mrs May has been able to bring together the warring factions of her own party to a common view of Brexit. Whether it will win the day is quite another matter and the EU are still likely to throw a spanner in the Conservative Party works.

Women have promoted a great deal of new legislation that would unlikely have been such a priority in a man’s world. Sexual harassment has also come to the fore in politics as it has in society at large. I do think we are making more progress than we sometimes think, but we are a long way from the vision of the Suffragettes 100 years ago, not just votes for women, but of a society where women are truly treated as equals and without discrimination.