Fight for the Right Film Premiere

Friday 1 November 2013

6.00 - 8.00pm

The Library of Birmingham

Fight for the Right: the Birmingham Suffragettes is a history project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund in which female pupils from two local Birmingham schools, Kings Norton Girls’ School and Waverley School, explored different methods of protest and activism used during the Birmingham suffrage campaign.

The research was then used to create a short film about the local women who played active roles during the campaign, focusing on specific incidents that took place in the city between 1909 and 1914, including an attack on the prime minister, a protest march, vandalised paintings and hunger strikes.

To register your attendance, please visit the FaceBook page for the event.

Upcoming book signing at People's History Museum

Saturday 26 October Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette, Socialist and Scourge of Empire

Image Credit - Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst collection, International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam)

From militant suffragette at the beginning of the twentieth century to campaigner against colonialism in Africa after the Second World War, Sylvia Pankhurst dedicated her life to fighting oppression and injustice.

Launching a new biography of Pankhurst, the author will discuss Pankhurst’s role at the forefront of significant developments in the history of radical politics: her construction of a working-class suffragette militancy which put working-class women at the heart of the struggle; her championing of the Bolshevik Revolution; her clandestine attempts to sabotage the actions of the British state; her early identification of the dangers of Fascism; and her life-long opposition to racism and imperialism.

Katherine Connelly is a writer, historian and activist.  In 2003 she was one of the school students who led the school strikes against the Iraq war and has continued to be a trouble-maker ever since.  This year she co-ordinated the Emily Wilding Davison Memorial Campaign and participated in the Channel 4 documentary on Emily Davison presented by Clare Balding.  She is currently a PhD student at Queen Mary, University of London, where she is researching the influence of radical Parisian popular culture in the 1840s on the writings of Karl Marx.  She is a leading member of the revolutionary socialist organisation Counterfire and this is her first book.

Booking Advised.  Visit the PHM website here.

Contact the museum on 0161 838 9190 or info@phm.org.uk
Free. Donations to the museum gratefully received
2.00pm – 2.45pm (talk) 3.00pm (book signing)

Upcoming events for Manchester Pride

Loud & Clear – a Pride Fringe event for lesbian and bisexual women
Tuesday 20th August 5.30-9.30pm

Join The Lesbian & Gay Foundation for free food, free refreshments and free thinking at their Pride Fringe event for lesbian and bisexual women.

Women sometimes struggle to have their voices heard, even within the LGB&T community. ‘Loud & Clear’ will feature a panel of inspirational women, exploring the different ways that we ‘come out’ and get our voices heard, both at Pride and in the wider world. Panelists will include local vicar Rev Rachel Mann, New Statesman columnist Eleanor Margolis and Sarah Evans, founder of Art With Heart.

The event also marks the launch of ‘Can You Hear Me?’, an interactive art exhibition which allows lesbian and bisexual women who have experienced mental health issues to share their stories.

‘Loud & Clear’ is a free event – no need to book, just turn up.

Email women@lgf.org.uk or call 0845 3 30 30 30 to find out more.

Can You Hear Me?
Tuesday 20th – Sunday 25th August

The Lesbian & Gay Foundation's 'Can You Hear Me?' exhibition will run for 6 days during Manchester Pride. 'Can You Hear Me?' is all about challenging the stigma and discrimination faced by lesbian and bisexual women with a mental illness, by encouraging conversations between those who have and haven’t experienced mental health problems.

Fourteen female participants have created their very own kitchen spaces, with furniture, decorations and sound, all created by our participants in order to tell their story. Each ‘kitchen’ reflects an individual’s experience and will be the setting for conversations between the participants and members of the public.

‘Can You Hear Me?’ is a completely unique opportunity to understand and change the stigma and discrimination faced by this group of women.

The event is free and we welcome both individuals and groups to come along during the following times:

· Tuesday 20th August 5.30-9pm (exhibition launch)
· Wednesday 21st August 4-8pm
· Thursday 22nd August 4-8pm
· Friday 23rd August 4-8pm
· Saturday 24th August 12-8pm
· Sunday 25th August 12-8pm

For more information, call us on 0845 3 30 30 30, email women@lgf.org.uk or visit www.lgf.org.uk/canyouhearme

Manchester Walk for Women

WHO: EVERYBODY, Women, men, children all welcome.

WHERE: The walk will begin at Ardwick Green, Manchester (the site of a rather impressive drama in ‘The Manchester Man’ written in 1876 by Mrs G Linneaus Banks). 

We will then pass the house of Elizabeth Gaskell, another Mancunian female pioneer, before heading to Birchfield Park and then Platt Fields. From there we will head to Whitworth Park before continuing up Oxford Road. We will conclude the walk at BLANKSPACE gallery, Hulme St to see the equals exhibition – a representation of where contemporary feminist artists are today – and have a glass of wine!

WHEN: Saturday 27th July, 2013 11.30am

AVERAGE DISTANCE: Approx 4.5 miles – 2 hours – flat, easy walking.
  
WEAR: Clothes and shoes comfortable to walk in, fantastic enough to celebrate in (feel free to wear sashes and bring banners, and of course if possible the suffragette colours of purple and green)

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please email equals@blankmediacollective.org
For information about the equals exhibition visit: blankmediacollective.org/equalsproject

SO WHAT IS WALK FOR WOMEN ABOUT?
In the summer of 1913, around 50,000 women marched across Britain to London’s Hyde Park to demonstrate for the right to vote.

Now, 100 years later, women from Barnsley to Brighton and Portsmouth to Manchester are putting their best foot forward to celebrate those who strived to make it possible for women to make their mark on the ballot paper.

Walk for Women is a series of walks taking place ACROSS THE COUNTRY throughout July – so let's get together and celebrate the action taken a century ago and the positive change it brought about.

As a fitting finale to a programme exploring and expanding ideas on feminism, Blank Media Collective have organised the Manchester leg of Walks for Women. It will be the conclusion to equals, a month long exhibition and series of accompanying events including an evening of live arts, a ‘speed debate’, live radio shows and a publication.

To celebrate the heritage of these ideas and the responsibility we have to pass the baton, we will be joining the Walks for Women movement to commemorate the Suffragettes’ march on the House of Commons and rally in Hyde Park in 1913. 2013 is also the centenary of the death of suffragette Emily Wilding Davis under the King’s horse on Derby Day. We will walk to commemorate her death and the sacrifices women made for our civil liberties; and to join in solidarity with other Walks for Women to celebrate the potential of realising feminist ideals.

Feel free to wear sashes and bring banners!

Refreshments will await the walkers and there will be the opportunity to see the show and explore what contemporary feminist artists have to say over a glass of wine.

Further information on this walk can be found here: http://www.walkforwomen.co.uk/routes/north-west/manchester/

Conference Call - Suffragette Legacy; How does the History of Feminism Inspire Current Thinking in Manchester?

Suffragette Legacy
How does the History of Feminism Inspire Current Thinking in Manchester?
Saturday 8 March 2014

UPDATE JAN 2014 - We will shortly be booking tickets for this conference and sharing the outline for the day.  Sign up to follow the blog for new posts

Call for PapersFrom The Village and David Bowie’s Suffragette City to Femen activists and Pussy Riot, the suffragette legacy is everywhere in modern culture.

As part of the Manchester Wonder Women events celebrating International Women’s Day 2014, this one-day conference seeks to bring together academics, artists, politicians and activists to present and speak about how their work is affected by the suffragette legacy of feminism.

Welcoming academic papers, feminist theory, dance, music or other, this one-day conference wishes to bring together different people to reflect on the important, but often complex, legacy of the suffragettes. Within an interdisciplinary context we wish to explore if, how and why the movement still matters in politics, academia, the arts and other aspects of modern Manchester.

Papers or submissions are welcome from any background, but special consideration will be given to anyone who directly engages with the Manchester history of the women’s movement.

Send your proposed paper, project or idea to suffragetteevent@gmail.com by 15 October 2013 at 12pm. We will let you know if you have been successful by 1st November.

If your work has a particularly visual or performance element, do send us lots of details about it. We are hoping to display related materials, objects and artworks, so any visual output is welcome in the planning stages.


Deadline: 15 October 2013 at 12pm

Contact info: suffragetteevent@gmail.com

Venue: People’s History Museum, Left Bank, Spinningfields, Manchester, M3 3ER

Directions: http://www.phm.org.uk/visit-us/how-to-find-us/

Fee: £25/£15 (concessions for students or unwaged). Bursaries and reasonable travel-expenses for speakers available.

Twitter: @wonderwomenmcr

Wonder Women: http://www.creativetourist.com/festivals-and-events/wonderwomen/

Blog: http://wonderwomenmcr.blogspot.co.uk/

Walking Tours this weekend

A very quick post with a couple of walking tours you might find of interest.

Saturday 13 July  1.45 pm

"Manchester First in the Fight": Votes for Women, 1866 - 1928
Meeting point: Friends Meeting House, Mount Street
This  walk  will tell the story of the campaign for “Votes for Women” in which  Manchester played a major role.

We will  encounter a number of the leading figures  of  the suffragist and suffragette  movement including Lydia Becker, Esther Roper, Teresa Billington,  Eva Gore-Booth, Nellie Keenan, Annie Kenney, Mabel Capper, Annot Robinson,   Hannah Mitchell and  the Pankhurst family.
£6/£5.

Sunday 14 July, 11.30am
"Up Then Brave Women": Manchester's radical  women
Meeting point: Co-operative Bank, Corporation Street.
This walk will look at the role of women  in Manchester’s radical  movements include Co-operative  Women’s Guild, Socialist women, Mary and Lizzy Burns, women writers on the Manchester Guardian,  Mrs Gaskell,  the Manchester Society of Women Artists  and  women at Peterloo.

It  is taking place in partnership  with the equals project, organised by the Blankmedia Collective. equals will explore feminism through art and conversation. It will run from 11th to 28th July and include an art exhibition, a book and a number of other events. It is curated by Nathalie Boobis and Anne Marie Kershaw. 

For  details of the full programme, please  go to their website, http://blankmediacollective.org/equalsproject

£6/£5

These talks are run and organised by Red Flag Walks http://redflagwalks.wordpress.com/

equals: exploring feminism through art & conversation

equals is not just about women, it is about everybody. Through the artwork in the exhibition, to the work developed for the publication and the conversations yet to be had, equals hopes to challenge preconceptions, reinvigorate the word feminism and take a step closer to achieving a better model of gender equality today.

Equals exhibition launch Thursday 11th July 6-9pm:
https://www.facebook.com/events/382421141860040/

equals is an exploration of the structures and systems that thread through our culture and language with regards to gender and feminism. Through the joint prisms of art and conversation, equals will provide a variety of platforms for all people of all genders to participate in the discussions and debates surrounding feminism and gender equality.

11th - 28th July - Exhibition equals:

Through the work of nine emerging artists, including Sarah Maple, best known for her strikingly subversive self-portraits and Goldfinger star Margaret Nolan, now a collage artist, the exhibition is an attempt to consider afresh where and how feminism could shape society.

Exhibition artists: Sarah Maple, Margaret Nolan, Ana Cigon, Rachel Finney, Marlene Haring, Helen Jones, Rosanne Robertson, Debbie Sharp, Mary Stark.

The exhibition launches on 11th July 2013 between 6-9pm at BLANKSPACE, 43 Hulme Street Manchester) and runs until 28th July 2013.

Equals Speed Debate and artists talk Saturday 13th July 11-5pm:
https://www.facebook.com/events/172167269628466/

On Saturday 13th July 2013, Blank Media Collective will be hosting an equals 'speed debate' where participants can engage in conversation and debate directly with high profile voices in UK feminism.

Speakers: Ally Fogg (Guardian), Lucy-Anne Holmes (No More Page 3), Vicky Horne (Feminist Art Historian), Kate Smurthwaite (Comedian/Political Activist), Caroline Craido-Perez (Writer for New Statesmen and 'Keep a woman on English banknotes' campaign).

Following the speed debate, the speakers will be in discussion with the artists from the equals exhibition, followed by an artist Q&A .

The event begins at 11am on 13th July 2013 at 2022NQ, 20 Dale Street, Manchester, M1 1EZ. A limited number of tickets are available here http://equalsspeeddebate.eventbrite.co.uk/ and cost £5 (£3 concessions).

Equals live event Saturday 13th July 7-9pm:
https://www.facebook.com/events/549807045077905/

On the evening of Saturday 13th July 2013, an amazing line-up of artists will utilise sound, image and language to re-explore gender identity through live performance, film and readings.

This event begins at 7pm at BLANKSPACE (43 Hulme Street, Manchester) and is free of charge.

Keep updated with all the latest information on this event:
Follow us on Twitter: @BlankMedia
Visit our website: blankmediacollective.org

Emily Wilding Davison: the one who threw herself under the horse

 

Yesterday was the Manchester performance of Emily Wilding Davison: the one who threw herself under the horse - a play written by Ros Connelly, and devised by writer Kath Burlinson and actress Elizabeth Crarer. Guest blogger Ingrid who is currently on a work placement at the People's History Museum was able to attend and review the play for the Wonder Women Blog. 

 

The People's History Museum seems like the ideal stage for a play about Emily Wilding Davison. It celebrates individuals and groups with causes worth fighting for and in my mind, Emily put up the ultimate fight.

 

Crarer's performance was incredibly fluid and at times even visceral. With little in the way of scenery and few props, it was a truly physical experience and Crarer really embodied her version of Davison. The Davison represented here is a self possessed and articulate woman; self aware yet consumed by the injust nature of womens rights at the time. Several times she declares 'this is the 20th Century!', outraged that it is now the early 1900's yet women still cannot have a political voice.

 

The play presented the relentless nature of campaigning, with repeated incidents, prison sentences coupled with Emily's personal struggles all making for an emotional experience.

 

I enjoyed the rope device, hung from one of the beams in the room it was used to create tension and movement and also represent objects in the most basic way, even a bicycle. It is a testament to Crarer that I felt completely pulled into Emily's world, immersed in every scene, looking where she looked, imagining those around her despite her being the only physical presence. The use of mostly ambient sounds really helped to create such a sense of atmosphere that there were times when I, as well as other members of the audience felt inclined to join in with her chanting of 'votes for women!'.

 

The chance to answer questions after the play was a great opportunity to understand the work of the team behind this play. I got the sense that they wanted to make Emily's individual story heard and differentiate her rather than just being lumped into the suffragette movement. It allowed her to be one woman, rather than an inhuman super-suffragette, almost. The point was made about Emily Wilding Davison being confused with other women until it is clarified that she was 'the one who threw herself under the horse', which is what influenced the title of the play.

 

It also threw up how relevant the issue of activism is even today. It was really inspiring to gain an insight into what Emily's life might have been like, her focus and commitment to the suffragette movement was one which would have been felt by so many women whose names and stories may well have been lost.

 

Devised theatre is about the process, what you see is the final product but leading up the the performance is a highly collaborative environment where all involved work together to create something. To hear more from the women involved in the creation of this play, click here.

For more information about future performances across the UK, click here. I would highly recommend you attend if you can.

Professor Krista Cowman talks Emily Wilding Davison and provincial militant protest

Image courtesy of the People's History Museum

 

Last Friday Krista Cowman came to give a talk on the role of Emily Wilding Davison and other suffragettes in the provinces at the People's History Museum. While many are aware of Davison's dramatic death, the talk addressed the work she did to campaign for women during her lifetime. Here is some insight into Davison and the work she did as a suffragette.

 

Emily Wilding Davison was born in 1872 to a  middle-class background. She benefitted from the educational reforms of the time, but could not complete her university education as planned due to her father's death so worked as a governess whilst completing it part-time. Davison joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1906 and in total she received 8 imprisonments, 700 strikes and was forcibly fed 49 times. She initially did suffrage work whilst still teaching, but the imprisonments caused her to decide give this up and dedicate herself to women's suffrage campaigning full time.

 

Cowman focused on the provincial campaigning, arguing that regional campaigns were the bedrock of what the union did as so many women worked from home rather than in London. At one time 140 women were being paid to be district organisers, which was a fairly settled role, taking day to day control of branches and sending detailed weekly diaries down to London to account for weekly meetings, and sales of various publications. Financing the work was a key factor, whilst they could claim petty cash, districts were often creative and make do in many ways in order to save money on materials needed.

 

Davison became an Itinerant Protester; between 1906-1912 - prison was an objective of the WSPU as a way to overwhelm the country's justice system as a means of protest. Many women were not imprisoned for breaking the law in a way that would usually get a prison sentence, but instead did offences that would incur a fine - then went to prison for refusing to pay the fine.

 

Respectable women of all classes became itinerant protestors, when in prison they would be disruptive, taunting guards, going on hunger strike and more.

Repeat offenders would be given increased sentences but jail was seen to open up the path to becoming an organiser. The work of suffragettes became known as 'pestering', women pursued politicians across the country to the point where some politicians began to refuse to take part in public meetings if women were in the audience and as a result security was tightened. Trying to get tickets to these meetings was one of the roles of campaign organisers and sometimes women would be in venues days ahead of the meetings to ensure they would be present.

 

 The talk also broached the demise of the WSPU, arguably due to the outbreak of World War One, and then  lead to a lively question and answer sesssion. Huge thanks to Krista Cowman for making the journey to Manchester to deliver this intriguing talk.

 

Krista Cowman is Professor of History at the University of Lincoln, a founder member of the Women’s History Network, and author of numerous publications including Women of the Right Spirit: Paid Organisers of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) 1904-18 - which would be a recommended read if the subject of this talk interests you.

Emily Wilding Davison Season - Political Women Tour

On Friday afternoon, Collections Access Officer Chris Burgess gave a tour of main gallery one at the People's History Museum, highlighting the presence of women within political movements, even before they got the vote. The role of the Manchester Female Reformers Society at Peterloo was an active one, women would take part in demos and unions, which would bring together classes and genders.

Women were also involved in the Chartist Movement. Their role was usually to make banners and organise teas, but more radical members of the organisation supported women for the vote. In particular it was felt that while women with husbands were represented by their husbands vote, single women and widows should be given a vote as they did not have a man to represent their views. In the 1867 reform bill, John Stuart Mill suggested that the word 'man' should be replaced by 'person'. Whilst this idea was not passed, the ideas were there and represented by some, if not by the majority. 

Women were seen as the voice of reason within political literature, counteracting the radicalism of going on strike, as seen in the image below where the wife is telling her husband "Thank God Bill you didn't strike", as they enjoy a Christmas spread that they may not have been able to afford without his income. Women were seen as rational yet still could not vote.

 

Image courtesy of the People's History Museum

Beatrice Webb's Desk is in the museum. Along with her husband Sidney and numerous others, she co-founded the London School of Economics and Political Science and played a crucial role in the forming of the Fabian Society - a British socialist organisation.

 Image courtesy of the People's History Museum

The museum has a section on feminist movements, and Chris mentioned how forward thinking and effective the marketing by women's campaigns were. They represented middle class and working class women, and the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) had universal branding colours of purple white and green (purple symbolised dignity, white purity, and green hope).

Image courtesy of the People's History Museum

Womens WSPU prisoners felt they were political prisoners, and were recognised with badges and intricate certificates like the one below.

Image courtesy of the People's History Museum

The tour ended with a look at how political parties advertised to women once they were given the vote, putting them at the centre of the campaign.

Parties were not sure how to attract young women, as they thought women would only vote as mothers - the poster on the right here is typical of political campaigns, and many contemporary images have used this sort of angle to encourage women to vote.

On the left, the young woman is being encouraged to vote for as he is stylish and wearing more up to date fashions. The men wearing the top hats are being dismissed, playing up to the perceived vanity of women.

Image courtesy of the People's History Museum

You can find out more about Chris' work by reading his blog Unlocking Ideas or following him @UnlockIdeas.