Wychavon is celebrating a landmark law that introduced women’s right to stand for election to their district council.
As well as being 50 years since Wychavon was formed, 2024 is also 130 years since the 1894 Local Government Act was passed. This enshrined in law women’s right to stand for their local district council – the late-Victorian version of district councils – and allowed some women to vote in their elections.
It was an early victory in the decades-long struggle to win women equal rights to vote and stand for election, courageously fought for by women such as Pershore’s very own suffragette Florence Feek.
Like most councils across the country, Wychavon has never quite achieved equal representation between the genders amongst its elected councillors, but progress has been made. Of the 43 councillors elected in 2023, 16 are women. The council’s longest-serving female councillor is Cllr Liz Tucker, first elected in 1991.
Mrs J M Jones was the first woman to become Chairman of the Council in 1984. Overall, 11 other women have held the role over the last 50 years.
But there has so far been only one female Leader of Wychavon, Cllr Linda Robinson in 2015. Cllr Robinson was inspirational in introducing and leading Wychavon’s social mobility project, which continues to change and improve the opportunities and outcomes for some of the district’s most disadvantaged residents.
Cllr Robinson said: “This anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on the significant contribution women have made as councillors to the success of Wychavon as both a council and a district over the last 50 years.
“Women’s right to be a part of our democratic process was hard fought and we should never forget the debt we owe to those who blazed a trail for us, so we have the right to earn the honour and privilege of representing our local communities.
“But the fact we still haven’t achieved gender equality in terms of representation on the Council means there is still more to do. As political parties, officers, and local government organisations, we need to ask ourselves why there aren’t more women councillors and what can we do to allow more women to seize the opportunity to make a real difference in their communities.”
Pictured above: Some of Wychavon’s current women councillors. (Front) Cllr Linda Robinson, (left to right) Cllr Hannah Robson, Cllr Nicola Morris, Cllr Judith Ciotti, Cllr Emma Sims, Cllr Margaret Rowley, Cllr Liz Turier, Cllr Beverley Hardman, Cllr Emma Kearsey, Cllr Liz Tucker, Cllr Angie Crump, Cllr Emma Stokes and Cllr Julie Tucker.