University welcomed its first Houses of Parliament Open Lecture as part of Politics Department 50th anniversary

The film and transcript of Mari's lecture is now online here.

Dr Mari Takayanagi is Senior Archivist at the Parliamentary Archives, responsible for day to day management of public services and outreach activities where she has worked since 2000.

Her lecture examined the interaction of the UK women's suffrage movement with Parliament, from the first petition presented to the House of Commons in 1832 to the achievement of equal franchise in 1928. It considered how Parliament reacted to the lobbying and petitioning of the peaceful constitutional suffrage movement led by Millicent Fawcett, the direct actions of the militant suffragette organisations led by Emmeline Pankhurst and others, and the individual protests by Emily Wilding Davison. It reflected on the early women MPs from 1919, and how women came to enter the House of Lords in 1958 and with particular reference to documents held by the Parliamentary Archives, and to objects held in Parliament's Works of Art collection.

Professor Andrew Massey, Head of Politics at the University of Exeter said:"It is a great honour to host this important lecture and we are very fortunate to have such an outstanding expert in Dr Takayanagi visiting the University of Exeter. The work of the woman's suffrage movement is integral to the expansion of a broader and deeper democracy, but it is more than that, it about the civilising of politics."

Mari has a 1st class Honours degree in Modern History from the University of Oxford, an MA in Archives and Records Management from UCL, and in 2012 she was awarded a PhD in History by King's College London. Her doctoral thesis was on 'Parliament and Women c.1900-1945', and it examined legislation affecting women's lives and gender equality after the First World War, the role of women in Parliamentary Select and Standing Committees in the interwar period, and women staff in Parliament in the early 20th century.

The event took place on Tuesday 29 April 2014 between18:00 – 19:30 and was followed by a drinks reception in Lecture Theatre C, Business School, Streatham Court,Rennes Drive, Exeter.