Today is the day. Today marks 100 years since some women were given the right to vote with the approval of the 1918 Representation of the People Act. The fight for women’s right was never easy and this year will be a celebration of the sacrifices many woman made and of how women have come.
To mark this centenary a statue of Millicent Fawcett, one of the leading suffragist, will be unveiled in Parliament Square in April. The sculpture by Turner prize winner Gillian Wearing will be the first of a woman ever displayed in the location opposite Parliament.
It has also been revealed that the statue won’t just depict and honour the memory of Millicent Fawcett – it will feature over fifty photographic etchings of other key women in the suffrage movement.
“I wanted the monument to be as inclusive as possible and to reflect that many women were involved in progressing the rights of equality, some of whom have never been publicly recognised,” Wearing said. “It is important to realise the battle for equality didn’t come easily. It was a long, hard, arduous struggle”.
The government put aside £5m of this year’s budget to fund a series of events and celebrations to mark the hundred year anniversary of women suffrage. A sculpture of Emmeline Pankhurst will also go on display in Manchester.
> Naomi Round
