In the UK, pioneers of women’s rights fought with blood and tears. What should we commemorate on Women’s Day?

Today is International Women’s Day, which is a festival established to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of women and strive for equal rights between men and women. In today's China, even though some people still maintain traditional patriarchal ideas in their hearts, at least on the surface, equality and equal rights between men and women have formed the consciousness of most people. But the acquisition of rights never falls from the sky, but has to be fought and fought for, and even requires blood and sweat. In this process, many epic stories and heroes have emerged. They may not be as magnificent as the heroes on the battlefield, but in a festival like today, they are worthy of our commemoration. Let’s go back to Britain in the 19th century and have a look.

In the UK, along with the changes in the political system came not only the establishment of the democratic system, but also the arrival of the industrial revolution. The roar of steam engines resounded throughout Europe and pushed human civilization to a new level. of the industrial age. The British Empire in the three centuries of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries was undoubtedly glorious. The "invincible" British Navy planted the flag of the British Empire all over the world, but beneath the glorious water, there was a fight for democratic suffrage launched by women. The movement is also quietly brewing.

In the era of industrialization and advancement of civilization, many things that were not originally considered as "shouldn't" have begun to become "shouldn't". One of the most important ones is the status and rights of women. Before the arrival of industrial civilization, British women, like women around the world, could not enjoy the same status as men in the country. Books written by British scholars recorded: "Men have brains, women have heart." Men give orders, women follow orders. ?If we say that men farm and women weave only means that men and women have different divisions of labor, it does not involve the issue of the status of men and women. However, words such as "men give orders and women follow orders" show obvious social problems of women's low status. Of course, women at that time were accustomed to it and did not think it was abnormal. It was not until the advent of the industrial age that things began to change.

Industrial civilization has brought countless factories and a large number of employment opportunities. In particular, breakthroughs in textile technology have enabled the establishment of a large number of textile and garment factories, which has provided a large number of employment opportunities for women. They left their homes in the countryside, ended their days of hanging around their husbands, children, and pots, and began to move towards a new world. Although the law at this time still did not give women real rights and status in politics, due to women's irreplaceable status in the family, the government still introduced some economic regulations that are beneficial to women's rights, which is very important for the fight for women's rights. The first step has been taken.

The slight increase in economic rights does not mean the improvement of women's status, because the former is still to protect women's rights and interests at home, and its purpose may also mean to bind women to the family. In 1832, the British Parliament carried out a key change. In the reform bill, all women in the UK were excluded from politics and did not have the right to vote. Voter qualifications were limited to "men" only. This means that the arrival of the industrial age has not improved women's political status. To change this inequality, only women can unite and carry out democratic movements to fight for their legitimate rights.

While the government still does not grant legitimate democratic rights to women, many social groups pursuing women’s rights have emerged in British society. The arrival of industrial civilization has provided the corresponding soil for the birth of women’s rights groups. The arrival of industrial civilization not only ended the original farming era, causing a large number of women to enter factories and cities, but also broke the original family operation model. Small family workshops where men farmed and women weaved no longer existed, and the entire society was transformed by the roaring industry. Civilization was involved, and freedom became synonymous with industrial civilized society.

In 1858, the Langham Lady Group, who realized the importance of the media, began to establish a newspaper. They named it the "British Women's Magazine" and published a large number of articles about women's equal rights, bringing the idea of ??gender equality to the forefront. Sprinkle it into society, showing women's strong heart and desire to pursue equality. In addition, they devoted themselves to education. Barbara and others believed that women's lack of complete education was the main reason for their low status, so the development of education was also an activity they focused on. In 1862, Ladies Wrangham's group formed a committee to lobby the government for women's right to attend university. In 1865, Cambridge University opened local examinations to women.

In 1872, they also opened Girton Women's College to train women for the college entrance examination. By the end of the 1970s, the school became a women's college affiliated with the University of Cambridge. Since then, with the promotion of Ms. Wrangham's group, several women's colleges have been established and have become women's colleges affiliated with top prestigious universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. Women are also allowed to enter universities to study in the same class as men. The feminist movement has made a huge impact in education. progress.

As more and more women begin to receive higher education, they are influenced by liberalism and egalitarianism. At the same time, they have the ability to survive that is not weaker than that of men. Along with this, they become economically independent and ideologically independent. freedom, women are increasingly eager to have the same voting rights as men, and they have launched radical feminist movements again and again to fight against the government. When the First World War broke out in 1914, the female group temporarily stopped fighting the government and began to cooperate with the government to deal with the war. As a large number of men were recruited into the army, women became the main labor force and the backbone of the British army, which made women's status in the British army. Britain's rapid domestic improvement laid the foundation for its right to vote.

In January 1918, the United Kingdom passed the "People's Suffrage Act of 1918". Since then, women have officially had the right to vote. Although this right to vote is conditional, it is already a very big victory. , since then the British women's suffrage movement has come to an end.

March 8 is International Women’s Day. This day is a holiday for women. It also commemorates the efforts of countless wise and knowledgeable women over the past hundreds of years to have the rights they should have. and sacrifice. In modern society, it should be said that equal rights between men and women have become more and more common sense, at least in words. But there may still be a long way to go before such common sense can be further penetrated from the word of mouth into the hearts of the people. As I said at the beginning, no rights fall from the sky. Let us commemorate the forerunners, and please join us for those who come after us!