100 years after British women won vote intimidation still exists, says PM May

British Prime Minister Theresa May celebrated the centenary Tuesday of women in Britain first winning the right to vote by hailing the campaigners who faced fierce opposition in the early 1900s.

May visited the birthplace and home in Manchester of the celebrated campaigner Emmeline Pankhurst. Her home became the center of activism for the women's suffrage movement.

May, Britain's second only female premier, said: "Those who fought to establish their right -- my right, every woman's right -- to vote in elections, to stand for office and to take their full and rightful place in public life did so in the face of fierce opposition. They persevered in spite of all danger and discouragement because they knew their cause was right."

The Representation of the People Act, which was passed on Feb. 6, 1918, gave first British women over 30 and "of property" the right to vote.

May said that while there is much to celebrate she worries that public debate today is coarsening, saying that for some it is becoming harder to disagree, without also demeaning opposing viewpoints in the process.

The prime minister said that in the centenary year of votes for women, abuse and intimidation is still found, disproportionately targeted at political candidates who are female, black, minority ethnic or LGBT.

"In the face of what is a threat to our democracy, I believe that all of us -- individuals, governments, and media old and new -- must accept our responsibility to help sustain a genuinely pluralist public debate for the future," added May.

Last year May commissioned an investigation into intimidation in public life. She endorsed the recommendations from the Committee on Standards in Public Life of actions that social media companies can take to address this problem.

May said: "The social media companies themselves must now step up and set out how they will respond positively to those recommendations. So far, their response has been encouraging, and I hope they will continue in that spirit."

She pledged that the government will establish a new annual internet safety transparency report to track companies' progress in stamping out online abuse.