election, the first in which some selected women were allowed to vote. It’s often believed this was a thank-you for the work women had done during the war. But even war workers like Agatha were still excluded from the franchise. She didn’t meet the criteria for eligibility: she wasn’t over thirty, she wasn’t a householder, nor a university graduate. And in fact, widening the franchise had nothing to do with gratitude. Instead, as historian Janet Howarth explains, it was a response to an expansion in the definition of citizenship.
The first women to get to vote
