To the opening of a photography exhibit in the east end celebrating exactly a hundred years since (some) women first got the vote in Britain. Slightly later than the first women’s votes in Canada. And in both cases far from universal suffrage. In fact when WWI broke out there were male conscripts who didn’t have the vote, and this too became a concern of the East London Federation of the Suffragettes. The opening is free, but we have booked places, and when we get to the little gallery we can see why. It’s very small, but it’s abuzz when we arrive. There’s a jazz trio playing and two rooms full of photographs, and even a contemporary film projected on the wall. It’s interesting to see how intertwined, in the east end at least, the suffragette movement was with the fight for improved social conditions, for more and better food and medical care and better working conditions and childcare. It was pro union and pro socialism, and there is even a poster on display suggesting that Soviets in Britain would be a force for equality and workers’ rights.
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