100 Years

It's 100 years since women were allowed to vote when the Representation of the People Act 1918 was passed. It wasn't until the Life Peerages Act 1958 that the first woman took her seat in the Houses of Parliament.

It's 2018. Things have changed for women, we're now equal to men; we're paid the same salaries, we're given the same opportunities and society treats us equally. (Yeah, right!).  

It wasn't until I gave birth to my son in 2016 that the issue of gender equality was slapping me in the face. Every cafe and baby group in Tunbridge Wells was full of new mums and their little bundles of joy, but something was missing. There were no men in sight.

My guess is that they'd all gone back to work after taking two weeks paternity leave, but I wondered how had this happened? Why was this modern society I lived amongst so geared towards women being at home with their new babies in those first few months? 

I admitted to my husband that I felt alone, even when I was surrounded by other mums it felt like an isolating experience. Women would come together and discuss their babies and moan about their absent husbands, it was a surreal situation. Surely I should be sharing these first few precious months as a family? 

In my case it seemed the men went back to work because they were the main bread winner, child care costs meant that it wasn't worth me returning to work, but I wondered, if men and women had been paid equally from day one would I be in this situation? Probably not. 

But it's not just about money. Society seems to have categorised the roles of women and men when welcoming babies in to the world, communities are geared towards an out dated way of living (why are there only changing facilities in Women's toilets?!).

So what can we do to change these gender 'norms' in our small town? I refuse to let my son be brought up in a community that isn't 100% equal but I fear we have a long way to go yet.

It's up to all of us to start changing the way society views parental responsibilities. We want to be mothers, we want to work and we want more than anything to be viewed equally.

Let's hope that it doesn't take another 100 years.