1908
United Kingdom
..... the Women's Social and Political Union stepped up its militant campaign with window-breaking and stone-throwing
..... Chrystal Macmillan became the first woman to address the House of Lords and her subject was the right of women graduates to vote
..... Julia Ward Howe became the first woman member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
..... the sensation of the Edwardian stage was Maud Allen, whose 'Grecian' dancing eclipsed the Gaiety Girls as a spectacle. Miss Allen would dance barelegged, in a tiny, wispy costume of chiffon, so alarming that the Manchester Watch Committee was minded to ban her show. Her big number of 1908 was Salome's dance, in which she cavorted around with St John's waxen head on a plate, ending by giving it a passionate kiss on the mouth. Despite her protestations of artistic integrity, this was too much for the authorities. When she performed the item at Covent Garden, St John had to be replaced by a dish of gravy
..... Emma Cons became the first woman to speak at the Institute of directors when she spoke on behalf of the South London Dwellings Company which she had set up
..... in Salford, near Manchester, the Board of Guardians moved that the 5' 4" minimum height for nurses at the Union Infirmary at Hope Hospital be abolished as it was felt that this would allow more women to enter into nursing
Around The World
..... Australia ..... votes for women were obtained in Victoria
..... Germany ..... in April in Berlin the Reichstag authorised women to create their own associations
Dated items
January 10th ..... GERMANY..... in Berlin, Chancellor von Bulow rejected universal suffrage in a speech to the Prussian Parliament
January 30th ..... UNITED KINGDOM ..... 9 suffragettes were arrested following incidents at the homes of six Cabinet Ministers
March 8th ..... AMERICA ..... proposed as the landmark for International Women's Day when a march was held in New York to commemorate the struggle for improved conditions by a group of clothing workers and their hunger march the previous year calling for better wages and a ten-hour day
March 16th ..... UNITED KINGDOM ..... Florence Nightingale was awarded the Freedom of the City of London
April 14th ..... DENMARK ..... the Danish Parliament adopted universal suffrage for taxpayers aged over 25 years
May 10th ..... AMERICA ..... Mother's Day was celebrated when Anna Jarvis held a commemorative service for her mother in Grafton, West Virginia. Those attending were presented with a carnation. She then campaigned for an annual day and by 1912 the first Mother's Day cards were being published. The date was later moved to the second Sunday in May. In ENGLAND the day is known as Mothering Sunday and is usually celebrated on the fourth Sunday in Lent.
June 6th ..... FRANCE ..... a new law granted divorce after three years legal separation
June 21st ..... UNITED KINGDOM ..... 200,000 people supported London's largest ever suffragette demonstration in a "Votes for Women" rally. It was organised by the Women's Social and Political Union and there were 20 different platforms with leading speakers on each one. A resolution called on the government to bring in an official women's suffrage bill without delay
July 8th ..... ITALY ..... the world's first woman passenger to fly in an aeroplane was Madame Peltier when taken up by Leon Delagrange at Turin, Italy in a Voisin plane
August 14th ..... UNITED KINGDOM ..... the first international beauty contest was held
October 24th ..... UNITED KINGDOM ..... Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst were imprisoned after being found guilty of conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace by inciting the public to "rush" the House of Commons. One woman who did reach the floor of the Chamber, Travers Symonds, said " I have made my first speech on the floor of the House of Commons and I hope it will not be the last that a woman will make"
November 9th ..... UNITED KINGDOM ..... the first woman mayor was elected when Elizabeth Garrett Anderson became Mayor of Aldeburgh