Women’s
accomplishments can be ignored, devalued, and written out of history leaving a
lack of diverse female role models. Sculpture statistics bear this out: of 640 listed statues in the UK, only 15%
are of women and most of those are of monarchs or topless mythological
characters.
Earlier this year, in a bid to highlight this monumental
gender imbalance, Warp & Weft (needlework artist Helen Davies and historian
Jenny White) transformed 8 man busts in Manchester Town Hall into craftivist
celebrations of local women.
Their crochet crusade struck a chord with Councillor Andrew Simcock
who proposed that Manchester City Council should support a new city centre statue
honouring a local woman. Yesterday, to
inspire local Councillors on their way to the vote, Warp & Weft restaged
their Town Hall yarnbombing installation. Simcock’s proposal was unanimously
supported, and it’s intended that the new sculpture
will be launched on International Women’s Day in March 2019.
The monument won’t cost local
taxpayers a penny. A working party of councillors with input from external
advisors will oversee the fundraising, artist commission, and choice of women
to be portrayed. But the selection of artist and woman will ultimately be made
by public vote.
Seconding Andrew Simcock’s motion,
councillor Josie Teubler spoke
passionately about the importance of equally celebrating the achievements of
men and women. Female MPs and board members are still very much in the
minority, and only when historical women’s achievements are given the status
they deserve, attitudes about what today’s women can and cannot accomplish will
slowly start to change.
Other speakers highlighted some of the hidden women who’ve
helped shaped the history of Manchester. While suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst is
well known, there are scores of other female movers and shakers less celebrated
but no less deserving of recognition, including politicians Ellen
Wilkinson, Margaret
Ashton and Dame
Kathleen Ollerenshaw.
What’s so exciting about this project is that the whole
process of raising the cash and selecting the design will be used to raise
awareness of some amazing local women whose achievements have been lost to
history.
Andrew Simcock’s fundraising cycle ride from Land’s End to
John O’Groats will be divided into 20 stages, each dedicated to boosting the
profile of a particular woman.
That way, when the final vote takes place, people will have
more of an informed choice about which woman deserves to be immortalized in
Manchester city centre.
Check out the Warp and Weft blog for details of the 8
inspiring women they celebrated in their craftivist exhibition.
