Frome’s female mayors mark centenary of women’s vote

TO mark the centenary of the first British women to get the right to vote, Frome Times invited former female mayors together to discuss women’s role in politics and the importance for women to exercise their right to vote.

Since 1980, when the first female mayor of Frome was appointed, there have been 11 female mayors, covering 13 years of female representation in Frome’s local politics. Of the 11 Mayors, Frome Times caught up with six, some of whom still remain as Frome town and district councillors.

The first female mayor was Helen Nash who held the position for two years in 1980 and 1981, followed by Elizabeth Attenborough in 1989, Brenda Hinton in 1993, Caroline Heath in 2002 and 2003, Karen Harvey in 2005, Blanche Farley in 2006, Maggy Daniell in 2007, Helen Sprawson-White in 2010, Pippa Goldfinger in 2012, Kate Bielby in 2015 and finally last year’s mayor, Sheila Gore in 2017.

When discussing the importance of women’s suffrage and what it means to them as female politicians, Sheila Gore said, “It’s extraordinary that people in our lifetime, within living memory, were dying for my right to vote and I think it’s really important to step up and make your voice heard and one of the simplest and easiest ways to do that is to vote.”

Maggy Daniell added, “When my mother was born, women couldn’t vote. When I was born there were hardly any female councillors or MPs and now, since 2006, there has been so many female mayors of Frome. When my daughter was born, we had a woman Prime Minister and she said ‘Can a man be a Prime Minister’ which shows just how much it has come along.”

Kate Bielby added, “We still have such a long way to go, I suspect that many of those who celebrated votes for women in 1918 would look at the current situation in central and local government and wearily roll their eyes and get back to campaigning. We currently have a ‘record high’ of women MPs at 32%, just under 30% of Somerset County councillors are women and only 20% of Mendip District councillors.”

Pippa Goldfinger agreed, “It’s hard to imagine a time when women didn’t have the vote, but 100 years is not that long ago. Like every walk of life, having diversity in decision-making is important and that diversity only comes with equal representation. 52% of the population are female and yet the majority of decision-makers are male. Obviously this has a profound effect on the laws that are passed and how they affect women in particular.”

When asked how being a female mayor has helped encourage women to be more engaged in politics, Kate Bielby said, “Apparently, women vote more when they see women engaged in politics. A previous recent election saw four men stand for election, three of the four standing were called… David. There wasn’t much choice, and that doesn’t engage women as they do not have a figure which they can relate to in politics, and when they do, they are more inclined to get involved and go out to vote.”

Helen Sprawson-White said, “For me as the youngest female Mayor in the country at the time – a few days after my 31st birthday, it was important that I sent a message out to the community that you didn’t have to be a white middle-aged man to be mayor, that you could work full-time, be a mum of young children and still do a great job!”

The former mayors shared stories about their highlights and favourite moments.

Blanche Farley said, “I was always so proud to be wearing the mayoral chain; you were given the opportunity to attend events you never would have got to do if you weren’t mayor. Representing Frome in Europe will always be a highlight for me, I felt so proud to represent a town full of such heart.”

Helen Sprawson-White added, “I remember talking about the Frome ‘glue’ in my leaving speech; that community glue is something that makes Frome truly special and I’m immensely proud to have played a small part in its history.”

In a message to fellow women, Maggy Daniels said, “Politics is about everything in your life, where you go to school, what your doctors’ surgery is like, what the bus service is like, absolutely everything in your life is decided by political decisions. If you don’t take part in that, or if you don’t try to change things about that, then you’re not doing the best for your family, you’re not doing the best for yourself and you’re not doing the best for your country – so women can do it!”