National Trust’s salute to suffragettes? A tea towel!

A CENTURY ago the suffragettes were fighting and dying for the right to vote.

Since then supporters of female empowerment have fought and won many more battles. So how does the National Trust choose to commemorate such a momentous 100 years? With a souvenir tea towel.

Covered in slogans (pictured right) such as Deeds not Words, the £8 purple tea towel is part of the National Trust’s Women and Power series. Feminists reacted with fury after a picture of the tea towel was posted online with the caption: ‘I think the irony is lost on the National Trust’. One said: ‘I’m assuming no woman was consulted in this celebration of women’s empowerment.’

Some supporters threatened to withdraw their membership, with one writing: ‘Oh dear – another reason to justify not renewing my membership. You need to join the 21st century.’ However, other women accused them of being oversensitive. One said: ‘It’s a tea towel, if you don’t like it, don’t buy it.’

The National Trust said the towel was part of a range to tie in with the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act – which gave property-owning women over 30 the right to vote.

It added: ‘Tea towels have always been a key part of our souvenir offer as decorative commemorative items – they aren’t always about drying the crockery.’