The ultimate tribute to suffragettes: An all-female Big Brother!

A CENTURY ago, the suffragettes chained themselves to railings, went on hunger strikes and even sacrificed their lives in order to win women the vote.

Now the women of today can honour the achievement of their foremothers... by appearing in a female-only series of Celebrity Big Brother.

In a stunt sure to have Emmeline Pankhurst turning in her grave, Channel 5 said it would run the series as ‘a salute to a centenary of women’s suffrage’.

Over the course of the series, to air in January, female stars will take part in a series of tasks designed to ‘challenge gender stereotypes’.

However, the show’s producers clearly don’t have enough faith in the sisterhood to put their ratings purely in the hands of women – admitting that male contestants will enter the house ‘over the course of the series’.

They would not reveal how long the house would be a man-free zone, saying only that the series will ‘initially explore how the all-female housemates interact ... as they enter the house first, ahead of the celebrity male housemates’.

Equalities campaigner Dr Helen Pankhurst, great-granddaughter of Emmeline, said she thought her ancestors would ‘laugh’ at the plan. But she added that ‘anything that draws attention to the centenary is a great thing’.