⁷ Only 58% of men were allowed to vote in UK elections before 1918. The Representation of the People Act gave women over 30 and meeting a property qualification the right to vote and at the same time gave the vote to all men over 21 and men in the armed forces over 19 (with no property qualification). Of 21 million voters, 8.5 million were women (this was at a time when, for the worst of reasons i.e. World War 1, women considerably outnumbered men in the population). The 1928 Equal Franchise Act equalised voting rights for men and women..