The sixtieth anniversary of the Life Peerages Act 1958 was commemorated last week. One of those instrumental in campaigning for equality in both Houses of Parliament was Margaret Mackworth, Lady Rhondda. A suffragette and a lifelong campaigner for equality of women, she died in 1958, months after the Life Peerages Act was passed, and five years before the Peerage Act 1963 allowed women like herself to sit in the House of Lords. Raised in Newport, she took over as secretary of the local branch of the Women's Social and Political Union—the suffragettes—in 1908. A plaque now marks where she set off a home-made bomb in a post box in 1913, which she was sent to prison for. Although the post box is still standing today, she certainly made her point. During the first world war, she was appointed chief controller of women's recruitment at the Ministry of National Service. After the war, she founded the Time and Tide paper with its all-female board. Against the odds, she gained respect in the male-dominated world of business and became the first female president of the Institute of Directors. Lady Rhondda was a pioneer: she described women's suffrage as 'a draught of fresh air' and gained the nickname 'the Persistent Peeress' in her quest for equality. As her biographer, Angela John, says, in many different ways, and over decades, Lady Rhondda sought to turn the tide of public opinion in twentieth-century Britain. For that, we all owe her a debt of gratitude.