All-male no more: London’s Parliament Square gets first statue of a woman

LONDON: A statue of 19th century British feminist leader Millicent Fawcett was unveiled in London´s Parliament Square on Tuesday, the first monument honoring a woman in a public space previously occupied by 11 statues of men.

Fawcett led campaigning for women to be given the vote in Britain, and the unveiling of the statue was the high point in a series of events marking 100 years since some women were granted that right for the first time in 1918. Fawcett is represented in middle age, with her head held high, gazing straight at the Houses of Parliament and holding a banner that reads “Courage calls to courage everywhere”, a quote from one of her speeches. The bronze by Turner Prize-winning artist Gillian Wearing - also the first statue by a woman to stand in the square - took its place among monuments to the likes of Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln. PM Theresa May, Britain´s second woman head of government, said during the unveiling ceremony that she would not be standing there today, in that role, had it not been for Fawcett´s struggle. “Few of us can claim to have made an impact as significant and lasting as Dame Millicent, and it is right and proper that, today, she takes her place at the heart of our democracy,” May told an audience of politicians, business leaders, feminist campaigners and schoolchildren.