Withering slights
Male- dominated Royal Mint chiefs in sexism storm after rejecting coins to celebrate the Bronte sisters
ROYAL Mint bosses have been accused of sexism for rejecting plans to honour novelist sisters Emily and Charlotte Bronte with special coins.
The Mint’s male-dominated advisory committee on commemorative coins was accused of failing to ‘take women seriously’ after snubbing the authors of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre.
The board, chaired by former Tory Cabinet Minister Lord Waldegrave, comprised ten men and three women when it met in 2016 and decided not to mint a coin to mark the bicentenary of Emily Bronte’s birth in 2018.
According to the committee minutes, obtained by this newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act, members thought the honour would be ‘inappropriate’ because they had already rejected the idea of a coin to mark the bicentenary of her sister’s birth two years earlier.
The minut e s state: ‘ I t was accepted that if her sister had not been commemorated in a previous year then it would be inappropriate to issue a coin for Emily.’ Details of the snub come just two months after The Mail on Sunday revealed that the committee had decided not to honour children’s author Enid Blyton on the grounds that she was a ‘racist homophobe, who was not well regarded as a writer’.
But there would be no such controversy surrounding the Bronte sisters as Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, both of which were published in 1847, are among the most celebrated novels ever written.
Author Dame Margaret Drabble said: ‘It seems strange that two of the most important and influential writers in the English language should have been overlooked in this way and for such flimsy reasons.
‘ Their significance is beyond question so you can’t help but wonder if this shows a reluctance to take women seriously. Emily would look particularly wonderful – her otherworldly profile like a Greek goddess would be very striking.’
Fellow writer Kathy Lette said women were being ‘photoshopped out of the cultural narrative’, adding: ‘ Blokes suffer from sexist Alzheimer’s where women of substance are concerned.’
The Royal Mint rejected any suggestion of sexism. A spokesman pointed out they have a female chief executive and said the Brontes may be honoured on a coin in the future. She added: ‘Women have featured prominently on UK coins for centuries – including monarchs and the image of Britannia.’