First statue of a woman in Parliament Square unveiled.
Millicent Fawcett joins lineup of male figures to mark centenary of women’s suffrage in Britain.
Two years ago, the feminist campaigner Caroline Criado Perez went for a run on International Women’s Day. Weaving through the statues on Parliament Square she had a sudden and depressing realisation: they were all, to a man, of men.
That changed on Tuesday when a 8ft 4in bronze statue of the suffragist campaigner Millicent Fawcett was unveiled in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament following a campaign led by Criado-Perez, who set up a petition even as she was still panting from her run.
Speaking at a formal unveiling of the statue, she said: “Women are still woefully underrepresented in all areas of British cultural and political life , not least in its statues.” Pointing out that less than 3% of statues in Britain depict real, non-royal women, she added: “With this statue of Millicent Fawcett, the first statue of a woman, and the first statue by a woman, in this iconic location, we’re making one hell of a start on changing that.”
Hosted by the BBC presenter Mishal Husain and featuring the poet Theresa Lola, performances from the cast of Sylvia and the Suffragist Singers and an adaptation of Fawcett’s 1918 female suffrage victory speech, the event was punctuated by distinctly female whoops and cheers.
Theresa May told the crowd that there would not be any women in parliament without the dedication of Fawcett, who campaigned for more than six decades for women to get the vote. “For generations to come, this statue will serve not just as a reminder of Dame Millicent’s extraordinary life and legacy, but as inspiration to all of us who wish to follow in her footsteps,” the prime minister said.
This year marks the centenary since some women were granted the right to vote in 1918. Fawcett, a campaigner since her 20s, was 81 when from the public gallery of the House of Commons she finally saw women given the right to vote on the same terms as men in 1928. She died one year later.
The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, who made the erection of a statue of a woman a priority in his first weeks in the role, called the unveiling a historic event. “The decision to commission this statue was a no-brainer,” he said. “It is vital that we fix the imbalance and make sure more women are represented in our public spaces.”
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said the erection of a statue was a great first step but said a “lot more can be done”, saying there were more women who deserved statues.
Among the guests was Harriet Harman, the former deputy Labour leader, who said she was delighted about the statue but warned against feeling “too grateful”. She suggested that the current statues in Parliament Square could be temporarily moved to other locations in London, and the square that has been dominated by men for more than a century could feature only statues of women. “These statues tell us that in culture, in politics and in society there is still a massive imbalance of power. Women make up half of the population – why should that still be the case?”
The Labour MP Jess Phillips, wearing a What Do Women Want badge (answer, according to Phillips: “Comfortable shoes and fairness”), said she was “utterly thrilled”. “It feels really great that a group of women – and Sadiq – came together and made this happen.”
As the crowds moved away and the selfies with Fawcett commenced, Betty Axtell and Suzy Nenghor, both 15 and from the Westgate school in Slough, said they felt inspired by the occasion.
“It gave me goosebumps,” said Axtell. “It was really empowering and it’s made young women like us want to get involved in fighting for equality.”
With a smile plastered across her face, Nenghor said she had expected the unveiling to be more solemn but had loved the music at the event, which was the first time she had visited Parliament Square. “Today was absolutely fantastic,” she said. “But it took too long – we’re right outside parliament. How could they not have even one woman here?”
The Fawcett statue, created by Turner prize-winning artist Gillian Wearing, depicts the suffragist leader as a 50-year-old, the age at which she became president of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. She holds a banner that reads: “Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere”, an extract from a speech Fawcett made after the death of suffragette Emily Wilding Davison, who was killed after she fell under King George V’s horse at the 1913 Epsom Derby.
And while the statue is just one of the 12 in Parliament Square, the artist has achieved a little-noticed feat: there are now more faces of women than men in the square. The plinth on which Fawcett stands carries the further images of 55 women – and four men – who were part of the fight for women’s right to vote.
Sam Smethers, the chief executive of equality organisation the Fawcett Society, said it was “fitting” that Fawcett’s statue was “gazing across the square at Winston Churchill, a man who opposed women’s suffrage”.
She added that the statue had to be a springboard for change. “A fairer society won’t just happen. It has to be by design and at the moment it is still designed for men. We have to make change happen,” she said.