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The Petticoat Vote

BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4, The Petticoat Vote

Jo Fidgen explores how the women's vote has changed British politics and society.

4 Extra Debut. Jo Fidgen explores how the women’s vote has changed British politics and society, unearthing some stark home truths. From February 2015.

Jo Fidgen explores how the women's vote has changed British politics and society.

In the 1929 general election, women voted on the same terms as men for the first time. It was dubbed the Flapper Vote and had an instant effect on how politicians went about their business. With women now the majority of the electorate, there was talk of "petticoat government" and dire predictions that politics would be reduced to a narrow preoccupation with the cost of living.
 
It soon became clear that women do vote differently from men. For decades, they swung the country Right. Without them, there would have been no Conservative governments between 1945 and 1979. But that all began to change, and it was women who thrust Tony Blair to power.

Jo Fidgen delves into the archives in search of the female voter and the ways politicians have sought to win her over. She digs up rare archive from the 1929 campaign trail, overhears a conversation between a young Margaret Thatcher and a prospective voter, and eavesdrops on a discussion between Tony Benn and his father about how female voters had changed the job of constituency MPs, and curtailed their drunken behaviour.
 
Neil Kinnock reflects on his struggle to get the Labour party to change its attitude to women. There's a personal take from Emma Nicholson on the soul-searching in the Conservative party as it started to lose the housewives' vote.
 
Many things have been said about female voters - including that they have made politics petty and personality-driven. Academics and pollsters consider the evidence, and bring us up-to-date with women's voting preferences.
 

Producers: Jo Fidgen and Kate Taylor
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

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