Sense of pride at votes for women
HUNDREDS of women took to the streets of Manchester on March 3 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote.
Poets, musicians and local councillors were among the people who attended the march between St Peter’s Square and Castlefield Bowl.
Not knowing what to expect, I arrived with a friend at St Peter’s Square, where people wore sashes and rosettes of purple, white and green.
I later discovered that the purple symbolised loyalty, the white purity and the green hope. This was the colour scheme designed for the Suffragettes in 1908.
A strong sense of unity and pride was felt as people arrived. Both women and men attended from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
The March began at 2pm - there was an enormous amount of passionate chanting and singing along the way, the public seemed surprised at this procession of loud and proud women (and men), however they seemed to enjoy our presence.
When we arrived at Castlefield Bowl, we were greeted by a musical performance from the wonderful host, Claire Mooney.
Sarah Judge, lead councillor for women at Manchester City Council, then came on stage to give us a powerful speech on equality.
Next up was Shirley May, a poet, wordsmith and the CEO of Young Identity. She recited an amazing speech and poem.
Following her were some of the people she works with at Young Identity, who also read some impressive original poems about women’s issues. Aisha Mirza, a writer, poet and community activist, then gave us an extremely empowering and emotional speech about many important issues, such as sexual harassment, the gender pay gap and the many injustices that women especially face everyday.
Her speech was my personal favourite and had an immense effect on everyone there.
Finally there was a performance from a comedian and writer called Jackie Hagan, who read a hilarious poem.
Unfortunately, I had to leave 30 minutes early, but I am glad to say that I had an amazing time and left feeling proud and inspired.
In 100 years women have come a long way but still have a long way to go.
Campaigns like MeToo and TIME’S UP have been extraordinarily effective, forcing people to wake up and work towards gender equality.