Scientific lecture
The Department of History at the College of Education for Human Sciences, on Monday morning corresponding to 3/20/2023, held a scientific lecture in the Hall of (Sayyid al-Shuhada (PBUH)) under the title (Women’s Voting in Britain) in which Professor Dr. Uday Mohsen Ghafil lectured. To introduce women’s voting in the British elections, which is a pioneering experience in women’s rights, and how to allow them to vote and participate in political life in English society. In the beginning, Dr. Uday spoke, saying: “Women struggled in Britain because of the violence and discrimination they were exposed to, and they were considered a second category, and they were not entitled to sit on juries in courts, nor were they allowed to graduate from university, nor were they entitled to vote in any elections.” The lecturer added: Even marital rape was not considered a crime until February 6, 1918, when women gained the right to vote with Parliament’s approval of the 1918 Law on Popular Representation, and at that time 8,500,000 votes of eight million and five hundred women over the age of thirty were added to the popular vote lists. After 10 years, the law included 21-year-old women from the age . Dr. Uday pointed out that: The first woman to win a parliamentary seat in the 1918 elections was of Polish origin (Markenfer Constance) and chose not to join the parliament to be replaced by the American (Nancy Astor). It is mentioned that the first country that allowed women to vote was New Zealand in 1893, and in the Arab world it was Lebanon in 1952. Iraq allowed women the right to vote in 1980, while the last country that allowed women to vote was Saudi Arabia in 2015. The lecture was attended by the Associate Dean for Scientific Affairs, Professor Dr. Moayad Omran Jiyad) and a number of the department’s teachers, as well as a number of students of primary and higher studies, and the attendees showed a positive interaction with the content of the lecture and their axes.
