Women's History and Policy Opinion Essay

Similar protests launched in the United Kingdom around the same time period. And the results were altogether similar as well. In 1918, the British Parliament passed the Eligibility of Women Act, which allowed women to be elected into the Parliament. In 1928, the Representation of the People Act granted women across the nation voting rights as equal to those as of the men. This was a major milestone achieved by women towards becoming a more active part of the political frame.

Margaret Thatcher, an Influential Woman

The eligibility to hold office and vote aided the feminine gender to grow their numbers in presence in the political arenas. Several women became popular and strong politicians throughout the twentieth century. One such woman was Margaret Hilda Thatcher, a British politician of the post World War Two era. Thatcher started her political career by becoming a Member of the British Parliament between 1959 and 1970. She rose to the position of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1979. She was the very first female prime minister that the world had seen. Her political career became to be known as a defining moment and cleared the path for the women all over the globe who were willing to become a part of the political stage.

Margaret Thatcher became to be known as the 'Iron Lady' in the United Kingdom for her approach and methods as the Prime Minister. Her life in the political arena and her reforms left an evergreen legacy for women and men as well. This legacy became to be known as Thatcherism as her she marked her presence on the political front with her strict and uncompromising style of leadership and political style. Her policies were more aimed at the economic development of the United Kingdom based on monetarist style policies. She uprooted the common public welfare system by bringing in reforms to make the people of the nation more independent and less relying on the state benefits and welfare system. Her reign as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was the longest serving in the twentieth century.

Modern Day Policies for Women in Politics

The modern political arena is not unfamiliar to the women power in the political arena and comparatively to the nineteenth and twentieth century's; women have stronger presence as equal opposition to men in politics. Governments properly support the women of their countries to develop themselves to be part of the political system. To strengthen the involvement of women in the political arena, the United Nations has marked six paths which would allow women to effectively strengthen their participation in politics and government. These paths include the development of education and its awareness amongst women, promoting quotas for women to participate in governing bodies, reforming legislations regarding focus on issues of women and children, supporting the women movements at grass root levels to empower woman, raising finance for gender responsive budgets and increasing the presence of gender disaggregated statistics in research.

Conclusion

Evident to the historical events, women in the twenty first century have more rights and power to enter in the political arena as compared to the previous two centuries. However, the numbers of women in parliaments and cabinets is still growing, which represents that although the progress for women as part of the political structures has been slow, it is on the rise and women are becoming more empowered and strong.

References

Eileen McDonough (2009), the Motherless State: Women's Political Leadership and American Democracy, University of Chicago Press

Jenkins, Peter (1987). Mrs. Thatcher's Revolution: Ending of the Socialist Era. Jonathan Cape.

Ramirez, Francisco O., Yasemin Soysal, and Suzanne Shanahan. 1997. "The Changing Logic of Political Citizenship: Cross-National Acquisition of…