It is 90 years since women in the UK won the right to vote. CHARLOTTE PERCIVAL asks what has changed over the years.

NINETY years ago, the UK became the fifth country in the world and the second in Europe to give women the right to vote.

Yet the gaps on pay, rights and expectations between men and women can still seem to be huge.

Haleh Afshar, professor of politics and women's studies at the University of York, and a non-party political peer in the House of Lords, does not underestimate the progress women have made in politics since 1918.

Yet she finds it extraordinary that women still hold such a small number of seats in Parliament, given that they make up the majority of the population.

"I think that in 1918, women were more considered as people to be seen and not heard," she said. "Now, certainly we have proved that we can be there bidding for our rights and making a very important difference.

"There is still, particularly in the House of Commons, really very much a boisterous boys playground, but I think the presence of women has been a very civilising influence. We've come a long way from when Clare Short used to be pillared publicly in the house."

Coun Carol Runciman, City of York Council's executive member for children's services, has been involved in politics for as long as she can remember.

"I come from a very political family. My mother was a member of the Townswomen's Guild, which was one of the organisations that grew out of the suffragette movement, and I have always been a strong believer in women's rights," she said.

Women had to fight long and hard to get their voices heard, although Carol points out that even before then they were influential in other ways. Women such as Elizabeth Fry, who reformed the prisons, and Florence Nightingale, who transformed nursing services, made a real difference.

Since then, however, the influence of women has become more far-reaching.

"Women have had a considerable influence in changing children's education, particularly in the early years, but it is also interesting to note that women have had a powerful influence in the banking and finance sectors, in particular in information technology, where they often play an equal part alongside their male colleagues," she said.

What would mark a real breakthrough, however, would be for Hillary Clinton to become the first female president of the US. That would have far-reaching effects for women the world over, according to Coun Runciman.

"I think it's important that both boys and girls see women and men who will inspire them and lead them to greater achievements."

Vale of York MP Anne McIntosh, a former Harrogate Ladies College student, has been in politics since 1983 and held down careers as both a lawyer and a politician.

She feels at home in Parliament and firmly believes she was elected as the best person for the job, not because she was a woman.

"I've never felt disadvantaged," she said. It was very different for women of her mother's generation, however.

"And what does make me mad is canvassing locally for elections when women on the doorstep say they're not going to vote. We owe it to our foremothers to exercise our democratic right, and I think there is a higher proportion of women who don't vote as opposed to men."


Suffrage timeline...

1869: Wyoming Territory in the USA becomes the first place in the world to give votes to women

1893: New Zealand becomes the first country to give women the vote

1902: Australia follows suit, although aboriginal women were not eligible to vote until 1967, when along with aboriginal men, they were granted full citizenship

1906: Finland becomes the first country in Europe to give women the vote

1917: Russia follows

1918: United Kingdom (partial), Germany, Canada, Austria

1920: The USA, but not Native American women.

1925: Italy

1928: United Kingdom (full), Ireland.