RECOGNITION FOR 100 YEARS OF WOMEN IN COUNCIL
October 29, 2007 9:25 AM
On Thursday 1st November Liberal Democrat Councillors will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the right for women to become elected members of Council.
On Thursday 1st November Liberal Democrat Councillors will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the right for women to become elected members of Council.
In August 1907 the Qualification of Women Act was passed by the government, allowing women candidates to stand in district, town and county elections. It was then on the 1st November 1907 the first local elections were held in which women were legally allowed to put themselves forward as councillors.
Early pioneers in the Kirklees area included Mrs Mary Blamires who was elected, as a Liberal, to Huddersfield Council in 1923. Mrs Blamires could very well have been the first elected woman councillor in the Kirklees area.
Seeking further information, Cllr Pinnock says: "We have not been able to find out who was the first female councillor in the former Batley and Spenborough Councils. We would be pleased if anyone who has any information on this could contact me so that we could celebrate the achievement and present this information to Council."
Mrs Margaret Watts was incumbent in All Saints' ward, representing Dewsbury Council, in the 1920's. The first woman Mayor of Huddersfield was Mary E. Sykes some 20 years later, in 1945.
As Cllr Kath Pinnock points out there are currently 24 women
Councillors in Kirklees. A fair representation of women means we need
another 10 or 11 female members to make up half of the total number of Councillors.
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