The banner also references Wearing’s early 1990s work Signs That Say What You Want Them To Say And Not Signs That Say What Someone Else Wants You To Say in which she took a series of photographs of strangers holding up their personal thoughts on pieces of white card. Seen within the context of this exhibition, the ‘Signs’ works reflect upon Wearing’s trajectory as an artist and her fitting commemoration of an individual woman who achieved extraordinary change for the lives of women through dedicated public activism. We women are allowed everything men are, be that the top job, the award, or the grant for research.

Terras and Crawford have brought together a powerful and accessible collection of contributions from Millicent Garrett Fawcett, whose speeches and writings gave a political voice to the women of her generation. This book allows us to follow the footsteps of a momentous - albeit often overlooked - suffragist, who blazed the trail we now walk' Criado Perez, Caroline; Cohen, Claire (10 May 2016). "Emma Watson is calling on Sadiq Khan to put a suffragette outside Parliament – and you can too". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 24 April 2018.

The statue of Newnham’s co-founder Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847–1929) was created by Turner Prize-winning artist, Gillian Wearing (b.1963). The full-size statue stands in Parliament Square, following a campaign by the journalist Caroline Criado Perez. The campaign highlighted that fewer than 3% of statues in the UK are of women, other than those of members of the royal family.

I gave this gem to my partner as a Christmas present. He, being a long-time Winterson fan, was suitably excited and somehow limited his reading as to make this book last two sittings. I won this gorgeous little book from Allen and Unwin as part of their International Women’s Day Balance for Better competition. Feminism is in issue that’s really close to my heart (obviously, I’m a woman…). But also because I have a career and a baby, I can really empathise with all the issues women find in life juggling these things. I’d only know Jeanette Winterson as the author of The Daylight Gate (among other titles), and it was nice to see she’s a women’s rights advocate as well. The sculpture depicts Fawcett at her most influential, in 1907 in her fties, when she had become the president of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). At this point, Fawcett had been a part of the organisation for over ten years. She had campaigned tirelessly throughout her adult life, from gathering signatures for the first suffrage petition in 1866 to negotiating on women’s behalf with Members of Parliament. Millicent Garrett Fawcett: Selected writingsinvites the reader to delve into the life and passions of this great suffragist leader. Millicent Fawcett paved the way for women to take their place in public life, that’s why I’m so proud that in 2018, her sculpture was unveiled in London, becoming Parliament Square’s first-ever statue of a woman. The statue depicts Millicent holding a banner bearing the powerful quote, “Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere”. This book explores important aspects of the rich and too-often untold history of women’s rights, including the origins of that inspirational quote.'Many people have argued that they found this work too simplistic, but for me, someone who often initially has trouble navigating a more complex and sophisticated dialect, I appreciated how this was written at a level that most people would find easier to relate to. Often, issues such as feminism are seen as intellectual and scholarly, but that simply isn't, and shouldn't be, the case. Anyone, and everyone, can be a feminist, so why should people be excluded from the conversation in fear of looking 'dumb'? Beverley Cook, curator of the suffragette collection at the Museum of London, said she thinks it is fashionable for contemporary feminists to reclaim the words of the “votes for women” campaigners for their own ends. “Sometimes the words of the suffragists and suffragettes are taken out of context and given a contemporary reinterpretation.” Millicent Garrett Fawcett: Selected writings invites the reader to delve into the life and passions of this great suffragist leader. Millicent Fawcett paved the way for women to take their place in public life, that’s why I’m so proud that in 2018, her sculpture was unveiled in London, becoming Parliament Square’s first-ever statue of a woman. The statue depicts Millicent holding a banner bearing the powerful quote, “Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere”. This book explores important aspects of the rich and too-often untold history of women’s rights, including the origins of that inspirational quote.' Yet in walking in such a light with courage of conviction, Sr Shaw, carried the baton from all those before her - both sisters and brothers - who persevered to a new body, a body of courageous ordained women ministers all of who to this day continue to push new boundaries and rise to challenges in their ministry on a daily basis.

From the #MeToo movement she makes what seems like an odd swerve into discussing AI because computer science/Silicon Valley is very male-dominated and she wants to be sure women have a respected role in the future. My reaction to this was the same as to Beard’s book and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s We Should All Be Feminists: you can’t (and I don’t) dispute what the author has to say; for the most part the points are compelling and well made. Yet I don’t necessarily feel that I learned anything, or saw something familiar in a new way. Millicent Fawcett, a suffragist leader once stated in a speech: 'Courage calls to courage everywhere, and its voice cannot be denied.' When Sr Shaw died in 1976, in a tribute to her in the Messenger, it was noted that she never sought such tributes but living in the light of Faith, she always sought to be of service. Because at every level of our society where change can be affected, where legislation and policy can be made, where real power sits, it is still men who dominate those spaces. Alison stressed that walking on the grass symbolises Newnham culture. Curiosity, courage, and encouragement are key and a favourite saying at Newnham is the suffragist rallying cry ‘courage calls to courage everywhere.’ Courage alone is not enough She was particularly focussed on the rights of working women. She campaigned against child labour and child sexual abuse and was involved in the criminalisation of incest. She campaigned against the practice of excluding women from courtrooms when sexual offences were under consideration and fought to see the legal profession and civil service opened up to women and for equal access for women to divorce. She was a proud and committed feminist and wrote the introduction to the republished Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1891, by Mary Wollstonecraft.

Having a room of one’s own

Cheema-Grubb said: “There is powerful and compelling evidence of irretrievable devastation in the lives of those you abused. It's probably not a surprise to many that I identify as a feminist, and as I've aged, my passion has increased in that area. Winterson has gathered information about historical feminism and oppression of women, and she explains to us, sometimes quite bluntly, about how this is still impacting lives today. A spokesman for the attorney general’s office confirmed that it had received multiple complaints about the leniency of the sentencing. He added: “The case will of course be considered for referral to the court of appeal.”