With a day to go until the General Election, the message among some women in Greater Manchester is clear

With just two days to go before the general election, the message among some women in Greater Manchester is clear - women's representation in politics still isn't good enough.

That's why a new campaign took to the streets of the city on Tuesday (2 July), in a last ditch attempt to encourage more women to vote.

The digital billboard, festooned in suffragette colours, illustrations and graphics exclaiming “YOUR VOTE MATTERS”, travelled around all 10 boroughs, including a stop at the Emmeline Pankhurst statue on St Peter’s Square, and the Pankhurst Centre.

READ MORE: After 14 years of Tory rule, is Manchester any Greater?

The nationwide campaign, #SheVotes24, was organised by Centenary Action, the cross-party campaign group working to improve women’s representation and participation in politics.

Founder Helen Pankhurst, great-granddaughter of the pioneering women’s rights activist, established the group in 2018 to mark 100 years since the vote was first granted.

Ms Pankhurst said: “We need women’s voices, we’re still not there. Only 18% of the GMCA cabinet are women; only 30% of MP candidates right now are women. As far as I’m concerned, that’s not good enough.”

“Emmeline, Christobel, Sylvia - all of the suffragettes would be saying: come on, there’s still more to do. And it’s our responsibility to keep doing that.

The 2nd of July marks the 96th anniversary of the Equal Franchise Act, which gave all women over 21 the right to vote in 1928.

Also marking the anniversary was a Dialogue, Deeds & Determination event organised by GM4Women, a Greater Manchester women’s charity for which Pankhurst is a trustee.

Sofia Higgins, another trustee on the board of GM4Women, said: “Historically, women are on the backfoot when it comes to politics.

“The way that we live our lives is still gendered. Women still have more care roles and tend to work part time because of that.

“But if we see women in political life who mirror who we are, we’re more likely to engage with them - and they’re more likely to be able to represent us in a truer way. Have more women there - show how you’ve thought about women’s issues - and we’ll have more faith.”

Polling carried out by Centenary Action suggests that 76% of women are planning to vote; but that 21% of women think that political parties only think about women’s issues for tactical gain.

Additionally, 33% of women surveyed said they felt political parties care about their vote, compared to 42% of men.

The #SheVotes24 campaign letter said: “[Women] represent over half of the population who can often feel their voices are not heard, their quality of life not prioritised, and their experiences dismissed.”

When asked why women may struggle to get into politics, Ms Pankhurst said: “The expectations, the procedures, the way of working, it’s still male dominated. It suits the traditional ways of doing things and it needs to change.

“Additionally, there are barriers around violence and abuse that women get disproportionately, especially women in parliament from ethnic minority backgrounds.”

One of Centenary Action’s main aims is to get to equal political representation in 2028, both in local councils and in Westminster.

Alongside Centenary Action are over 175 organisations behind the #SheVotes campaign including Mumsnet, 50:50 Parliament, the Muslim Women’s Network and the Fawcett Society.

Emmeline Pankhurst grew up in Manchester and founded her campaign group at her home there in 1903.

A pair of Victorian villas just off Oxford Road, the Pankhurst Centre is now a Grade II* listed building and museum telling the story of the fight for the vote.

Of her family’s local legacy, Ms Pankhust said: “I feel the power of my surname everywhere - but in Greater Manchester, that power is magnified tenfold.”