(1847-1929)
Parliament Square Garden, London SW1P, UK
It is a pleasure to meet suffragist Millicent Garrett Fawcett in Parliament Square whose statue was the first woman to be included in an area consisting of 11 male statues.
The campaign was led by writer and activist Caroline Criado Perez who, by pointing out there were 98 statues of men called John, and only 128 named women statues in the UK, inspired me to take this journey of statues in the first place.
Commissioned as part of the centenary year of the 1918 Representation of the People Act (which gave some women over 30 the right to vote), the plinth includes photos of other prominent suffragettes and suffragists, hence, in essence, the presence of noted women in the Square now exceeds that of men.
Leader of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) Fawcett was sister to Elizabeth Garrett Anderson – the first woman to qualify as a doctor in 1865. Fawcett co-founded Newnham College, Cambridge – one of the first colleges for women – as part of her efforts to improve women’s access to higher education. She died in 1929, one year after all women were permitted to vote on the same terms as men.
I love this statue, although every time I see it, the cloth that bears such a poignant statement, ‘Courage calls to courage everywhere’ always reminds me of a newly ironed tea towel. Go figure.
I spend time nearby watching other people’s interaction with it, selfies, poses, all of it. It’s also intriguing to watch folk just sit down next to it, seemingly oblivious to it, contented to be part of the photos of passers-by. On this occasion I have managed to dodge them all. Result.
WomenstatuesUK 