Independence beckons

Thanks in large part to the militant campaigns of Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel, women's suffrage is won finally in 1918, but only for women of 30 and over. Men can vote at 21. In 1928, women finally win the right to vote at the same age as men.

In 1924, the law - in the Guardianship of Infants Act - recognises that women have rights and responsibilities for their children that are equal to men's. The court's sole guiding consideration becomes the interests of the child. But it is only in 1935 that the Law Reform (Married Women and Tortfeasors) Act gives a married woman the same rights to dispose of her property in her will as she would have if she were single.