Women have worked hard; starved in prison; given of their time and lives that we might sit in the House of Commons and take part in the legislating of this country.

In 1936 "in the grandest tradition of British dissent" Ellen Wilkinson organised the "Jarrow March" of 200 unemployed workers from Jarrow to London where Ellen Wilkinson presented a petition for jobs to Parliament. [citation needed]


Jarrow
In the 1935 General Election Wilkinson re-entered Parliament as MP for Jarrow "the town that was murdered" having one of the worst unemployment records in Britain with nearly 80% of the insured population out of work. " Her feminism and concern for social justice inspired others to similar political activity.

She was one of the first women in Britain to be elected as a Member of Parliament. Ellen Cicely Wilkinson PC (8 October 1891 – 6 February 1947) was the Labour Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough and later for Jarrow on Tyneside.