Today in Parliament Square:

A statue commemorating the life of the suffragist, Millicent Fawcett, has been unveiled opposite Parliament.

She campaigned for women’s right to vote during the early 20th Century and is seen as one of the most influential feminists of the past 100 years.

Prime Minister Theresa May paid tribute to the “truly great” campaigner’s “lasting impact” after it was unveiled.

The bronze casting, by the artist Gillian Wearing, is the first statue of a woman erected in Parliament Square.

How did it happen?

It followed a campaign by the feminist writer and activist Caroline Criado Perez, who also led last year’s successful effort to get Jane Austen to appear on the £10 note.

She said she came up with the idea for the statue when she was out running on International Women’s Day in 2016 and realised the only historical figures commemorated there were men.

Only two years ago. She gets things done.

Some of the hundreds of women and men who gathered to watch the unveiling ceremony were simply there to witness a moment in history.

“It is very important to me to see a woman in Parliament Square. It has taken a long time,” said student Poppy Sharpe, who was there with her friend Macushla Savvides (pictured above).

Boys grow up seeing that they can become someone immortalised as a statue, said Emma Camp, but girls don’t: “It’s about role models.”

But for others it was a chance to stress that the battle for equality fought by Millicent Fawcett and the other suffragists is far from over.

And. And for others it was a chance to stress that the battle for equality fought by Millicent Fawcett and the other suffragists is far from over. The two don’t contradict, they go together.