Nancy Astor holds a very special place in parliamentary history. She was the first woman to sit in the House of Commons, but she was not the first woman to stand or be elected.\u00a0Seventeen pioneering women stood in the 1918 general election. Constance Markiewicz was the only one elected, but as a member of Sinn Fein and in adherence to their abstentionist policy, she did not take her seat.<\/p>\n
Dr Jacqui Turner has been working with Parliament to help portray Nancy Astor’s contributions to British politics\u00a0.<\/a><\/p>\n International Women’s Day 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n In March 2019, Jacqui gave the International Women’s Day lecture in the Houses of Parliament ‘Nancy Astor: First steps towards a better balanced world’.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n