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<\/p>\nTo celebrate International Women\u2019s Day, the History Department and Society here at the University of Gloucestershire put on an event to celebrate some women who had been influential in society.<\/p>\n
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\u2018I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a King.\u2019<\/p>\n
On the 17th<\/sup> November 1558, Elizabeth Tudor was crowned as Queen of England. Despite her father\u2019s disappointment at her gender, she was a woman who began to challenge the weak and submissive nature of women. She refused to marry, instead remaining single throughout her life and ruling to the same extent as if she had been a man. She demonstrated how strong women can truly be, in a time when they were expected to be the opposite.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2018I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.\u2019<\/p>\n Mary Wollstonecraft was alive at a time when women were expected to be competent housewives, with very little education. She challenged the fashionable pursuits such as dancing, beauty and music which were covered in education and began to argue that women would be better suited to their roles if they were educated to a higher level. A vital precursor to the feminist and suffragette\/suffragist movement, she was a prominent woman among those who pushed for change.<\/p>\n ‘The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything… or nothing.’<\/p>\n Nancy Astor became the first woman to take a seat in parliament in 1919. She worked for temperance, women\u2019s rights and children\u2019s rights amidst a political scene that was rife with sexism. During the early years of her political career, Nancy supported lowering the voting age of women to 21 (which was passed in 1928) and campaigned to recruit women in the civil service, police force and the House of Lords. A first for women, and a keen campaigner to improve the opportunities available to her sex.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Women\u2019s History Month continues for the rest of March, and people everywhere are continuing to #pressforprogress in gender equality. These are not the only influential women in our history. There are so many more who have pushed for change or stepped out as women into new areas. The Gloucestershire Echo and Gloucester Citizen have teamed up with Cheltenham Racecourse to honour some influential women from Gloucestershire, both from History and those who are still active in our communities today. The list of 50 names have been engraved onto a plaque and will be unveiled during the Cheltenham Festival, this week.<\/p>\n![\"wollstonecraft\"](\"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/equality\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/159\/sites\/302\/2018\/05\/wollstonecraft.png\")
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