Equal rights: The big victories won by women

Women have fought for many years to have the same rights as men.

But it was only in the last 100 or so years that real change started to happen in the UK

The biggest of these changes was in 1918 when some women first got the right to vote in England.

The law changed in that year and, on 14 December 1918, women had their first opportunity to vote and to put themselves forward as a politician in a general election to choose a government for the UK.

Constance Markiewicz was the first woman to win a seat as a Member of Parliament but the first to take up a seat in the Houses of Parliament was Nancy Astor.

Lady Astor won a by-election in Plymouth Sutton, where she remained as MP until 1945.

One hundred years on and women have more than made their mark in parliament. Britain has had two female prime ministers, a first minister in Scotland and Northern Ireland and countless senior politicians, but many feel there is still a long way to go.

Since 1918 it's taken years of even more campaigning for women to get closer to being treated equally.

And women are still fighting to this day.