HISTORY OF

WOMEN IN THE

UNITED KINGDOM

Women's immense contribution to society has often been made invisible by a historic lack of social status and confinement to the home. The social, political and architectural history imprinted in the buildings around us has, in previous centuries, largely been recorded as the story of man.

However, women's achievements and experience have left a deep impression on the historic environment. Once exposed, this can help to fill in the gaps left by previous generations' recording of history to reveal a host of fascinating and inspirational stories.

21st century

Since 2007, Harriet Harman has been Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, the UK's current opposition party. Traditionally, being Deputy Leader has ensured the cabinet role of Deputy Prime Minister. However, Gordon Brown announced that he would not have a Deputy Prime Minister, much to the consternation of feminists, particularly with suggestions that privately Brown considered Jack Straw to be de facto deputy prime minister and thus bypassing Harman. With Harman's cabinet post of Leader of the House of Commons, Brown allowed her to chair Prime Minister's Questions when he was out of the country. Harman also held the post Minister for Women and Equality. In April 2012 after being sexually harassed on London public transport English journalist Laura Bates founded the Everyday Sexism Project, a website which documents everyday examples of sexism experienced by contributors from around the world. The site quickly became successful and a book compilation of submissions from the project was published in 2014. In 2013, the first oral history archive of the United Kingdom women’s liberation movement (titled Sisterhood and After) was launched by the British Library.