New campaign group aims to build statues of famous female figures
'Visible Women' want the achievements of historical inspirational women to be recognised in the form of statues
Last updated 10th Jan 2022
Meet the group of women fighting to put up monuments to some of history's most inspiring and accomplished women.
Visible Women formed a year ago to support one another on a mission to improve representation across towns and cities in the UK.
It comes just days after four people charged with criminal damage for pulling down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston were found not guilty.
There are currently 12 projects in the works from Manchester, to Brighton and Lyme Regis.
They include monuments to women such as Mary Clark, the first suffragette to die for the cause, Emily Williamson, the founder of the RSPB and Mary Anning, one of the first palaeontologists.
A statue to Mary Anning is due to be set in stone on the fossil hunter's 223rd birthday in May this year. Anya Pearson and her daughter Evie Swire are behind it. Anya said:
"I think it's almost a subliminal thing for me. I think because we're so used to seeing male images on podiums and platforms that it's a default thing that we go 'there's another man on a horse on a podium.'
"It kind of sends these really subliminal messages to our young women that only men are worthy of celebrating and only men do worthy things.
"When you consider that statues are the original influencer and they're everywhere you go...
"I can walk down my Dorchester high street and it's all statues to men. In fact, we've got more statues to animals in Dorchester than we do named women.
"We need public art to represent who we are as a culturally diverse community."
The role of statues in society was brought into focus after the death of George Floyd in May 2020. His death caused unrest across the world. Here in the UK protestors tore down a statue of Edward Colston in Bristol.
Anya says who we choose to feature on our streets sends a strong message. She recounted the incident which lead her daughter, Evie, to build a monument to Mary.
"When your ten-year-old daughter, four years ago, asks to go and see Mary's statue who is a scientific legend of monumental proportions and you have to tell her she doesn't have a statue, they go so upset their neck goes red and they want to cry - we need to do something about that."
But statues of men still vastly outnumber those of women, according to the Public Statues and Sculptures Association, although the exact number is not fully known. More and more are being built though.
"When me and Evie got a handful of other groups across the country we thought it makes sense to start our own support group really.
"If someone's putting in a planning application and they're a bit unsure, we're able to say XYZ - do this.
"I always say this to people, just scratch the surface and you'll find lots of forgotten historical women. If your town or your city hasn't got enough statues of women in it, or none at all, which is probably the case, then get a group together. We need to start having these role models immortalised in bronze to inspire our children."
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