It’s been 100 years since Emily Wilding Davison jumped out in front of the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby, she was hit by the horse which put her in a coma and four days later she died. Last week, a programme on Channel 4 presented by Clare Balding set out to discover whether what she did was was a suicide mission or a publicity stunt gone horribly wrong. From the research and findings through today’s technology it seems that the latter was true.

It is now thought Davison had a scarf with suffragette colours and slogan on it which she intended to put on the King’s horse so when it crossed the line the movement would get plenty of press coverage but also attract the attention of the King as their protests against Parliament had seemed to hit a brick wall, the women needed to do something drastic, this was it.

The campaign to get votes for women has been achieved for many decades now but a century after the tragic death of one of the suffragettes greatest campaigners do women actually have full equality?

I’d personally argue that we don’t have anywhere near enough equality in the UK and especially not in the world where in many countries women are still treated as second class citizens. There was a debate on this exact subject last week on Channel 4’s 10 O’Clock Live and the person who’s arguments really caught my attention was those of Laurie Penny, a writer and feminist. As she rightly pointed out we may be seen as equals in the eyes of the law and Government with legislation in place for equal pay – though most women are not paid equally to men and my generation may have retired before we achieve that sort of equality, the right to work in whatever role we like – we need better childcare to fully achieve this firstly and we need more women in politics, boardrooms and influential positions and obviously we have the right to vote but there are many things that still need to be changed.

One of the main issues is the right to choose –the right to choose what we want to do with our lives, the right to choose whether to stay at home or go back to work after having children, the right to be able to choose any career regardless of stereotypes or boundaries, the right to choose whether to keep a child or not with campaigns for making it easier to get an abortion for the women that want it and the right to be able to wear whatever clothes we want to without sexist comments [see Everyday Sexism’s twitter account: @EverydaySexism for plenty of examples].

We also need to change people’s preconceptions of women, the controversial worldwide SlutWalks that took place a couple of years ago were against comments from a male police officer from Toronto who said women bring about rape themselves by the clothes they are wearing. Surely I as a woman and a human being should be allowed to wear shorts and a vest top or a short dress on a hot day or a night out without fear of being raped.

Language is another major issue: a man is described as ambitious and it’s a compliment meaning he’s hardworking and someone wanting to achieve, this should be the same for women but it usually comes with the added extra of them being a bitch who doesn’t care about anyone else’s feelings on the way to the top. And don’t even get me started on the whole single men=bachelor/single women=spinster and man who cheats=lad/woman who cheats=slag/whore/slut debates.

There is still a lot to be done though the suffragette’s main battle of votes for women is won the equality battle continues. Most people don’t even bother to vote come election time anymore, it’s an even sadder thought when you realise these women fought, died, went on hunger strikes and were violently force-fed in prison all in order to gain a simple right for women that is now taken for granted by many.

To sort this we need to work together to change mind-sets and achieve equality for women. With women and men working together, celebrity endorsements [there are plenty of high profile male figures supporting the cause for female equality too] and plenty campaigns we can make a change. As actress Rosario Dawson said in The Guardian this week we need to “stop referring to problems which disproportionately affect women as “women’s issues”, and to recognise they’re social problems that need to be tackled by everyone.”