Millicent Garrett Fawcett
Caroline Criado-Perez does it again: Parliament Square will add to its eleven (11) statues of men one (1) statue of a woman.
Prime Minister Theresa May announced on Sunday that Millicent Garrett Fawcett, who campaigned for the right of women to vote, will be honored with a statue to stand in the company of giants like Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela.
Mrs. Fawcett formed the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies in 1897 and died at age 82 in 1929, a year after all women in the United Kingdom were granted the right to vote.
It’s only the right to vote for half of all human beings. No biggy.
Fawcett, a political and union leader, is not the only woman to be honored by the British government this year. Jane Austen’s image will be on the new polymer £10 note, replacing that of Charles Darwin.
The Bank of England caused some controversy when it put Churchill on the new polymer £5 bill, replacing the social reformer Elizabeth Fry. The bank responded to the outcry by putting Austen on bills scheduled to be issued this fall.
Thanks to CCP.
In the United States, some have argued against the Treasury’s plan to move President Andrew Jackson, who owned slaves, to the back of the $20 bill and to place Harriet Tubman, a former slave who escaped to freedom and helped others do the same, on the front. But that plan is proceeding.
I think they should get Jackson off altogether. He owned slaves and he genocided Native Americans. Not a national hero.
Caroline Criado-Perez, who started a petition campaign for a suffrage statute in London, praised the choice of Mrs. Fawcett and thanked supporters.
Writing on Twitter, Ms. Criado-Perez said: “Delighted with such a decisive response” from Mrs. May. “Huge thank you to everyone who supported the campaign from the beginning,” including Mayor Sadiq Khan of London.
By the way, have you heard of Susan B. Anthony?
Ophelia,
Have you heard of Vida Goldstein? I doubt that there will ever be a statue of her in Parliament Square, or of any of the NZ women who were the first in the world to win the right to vote.
Final judging on the design for a statue of Emmeline Pankhurst here in Manchester is, I believe, happening right now. That’ll be a welcome, if massively overdue, addition.
Making this the only bill that has a face on the back. Heavens, every woman must be accompanied by a man – and preferably a man who felt his rightful role was to own said woman, or other members of her skin color.