International Women’s Day – 8th March 2026

Today in Scotland, anyone over the age of 14 can register to vote, regardless of gender and Nationality, but this wasn’t always the case.

Until the introduction of the 1832 Reform Act (Scotland), only around 4,500 people were eligible to vote. This act increased the number of eligible voters but still excluded most men and all women from the vote. This International Women’s Day, we look back at some of the inspirational women behind the Women’s Suffrage Movement in Scotland, who campaigned for women’s right to vote and whose actions changed democracy as we know it in Scotland today.

Anyone who lives in Scotland and is over the age of 14 years old can register to vote at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.

Dame Sarah Siddons Mair – A suffragist (peaceful protestor) and former president of the Edinburgh National Society for Women and the Scottish Federation of Women’s suffrage. A black and white photograph shows Dame Sarah Mair in profile, with her hair in a bun.

 

 

 

 

 

Louisa Stevenson – an early suffragist and campaigner for women’s education  who was one of the first women elected to a hospital board. She sadly died ten years before the vote was extended to some women in 1918. A black and white photograph shows Louisa Stevenson’s head and shoulders, she is wearing a double stand of pearls.

 

 

 

 

 

Dame Cicily Fairfield AKA Rebecca West – an author and journalist who wrote in support of women’s suffrage from the age of 15. Her works include the novel The Sentinel and a biographical essay about the life of Emmeline Pankhurst. A black and white author photograph shows Dame Rebecca West in a check coat and chunky necklace.

 

 

 

 

 

Jessie M. Soga – a successful contralto singer and founding member of the Hillhead branch of the Women’s Freedom league in Glasgow, Jessie M. Soga has been described as the only documented woman of colour in the suffrage movement in Scotland. A black and white photograph shows a group of nine suffragettes at a bazaar in Glasgow. Jessie Soga is believed to be at the back left with her face shaded under a large hat.

 

 

 

 

 

Ethel Moorhead – a militant suffragette who was arrested many times, including once for smashing a glass case at the Wallace Monument!

Fanny Parker – a militant suffragette who was also imprisoned for her activism and was force-fed while on hunger strike in prison.

A black and white photo shows a large group of suffragettes wearing tartan sashes and holding a banner which reads,”Ye mauna tramp on the Scotch thistle Laddie” – which translates from Scots as “You must not trample on the Scottish thistle, boy”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

https://blog.historicenvironment.scot/2025/03/scotland-and-the-womens-suffrage-movement/
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/24579551.new-city-trail-remembers-neglected-working-class-glaswegians/
https://protestsandsuffragettes.com/educational-resources/

Public domain images of a group of un-named Scottish suffragettes, group of suffragettes at a Bazaar in Glasgow,  Dame Sarah Siddons Mair and Louisa Stevenson courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Photograph of Dame Rebecca West by Madame Yévonde licensed under Creative Commons.