Wollstonecraft memorial sends a powerful and vital message
LAST International Women’s Day a group of 80 women from politics, academia and public life called for the human-rights champion and trailblazer for gender equality, Mary Wollstonecraft, to be memorialised on Newington Green. This year I am proud to have organised a group of men, from Jeremy Corbyn to the actor Sam West, to echo their call.
Each time I look out of the windows of Parliament to the surrounding streets and squares I am reminded of history’s bias towards men of wealth and power. Mary was a woman of little means and power yet she made a lasting mark on this country. Her childhood was marred by domestic violence and a struggle to make ends meet. As was the norm for girls at the time, she received very little formal education.
Despite this adversity Mary became one of the first women to make a living by the pen and her seminal work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, is now recognised as one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy and a key contribution to enlightenment thought. Newington Green, on the border between Islington and Hackney, has been chosen for a memorial because that is where she met and debated with many famous philosophers and politicians of the day, from Thomas Paine to John Adams, the second President of the United States.
Public memorials to women such as Mary, who came from humble origins and went on to achieve great things, are not only important because they should be remembered and recognised for their contributions. They are important because who and what we memorialise affects our cultural psyche.
Last year, as part of my role as Labour’s shadow culture secretary, I commissioned an investigation into diversity in the performing arts called Acting Up. We were looking at the causes of under-representation of women, and people from workingclass and BAME backgrounds in film, TV and theatre. Something that the actress Julie Hesmondhalgh said to our inquiry stuck with me: “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.”
She’s right. If people don’t see themselves and their communities on screen, it’s no surprise many feel a career in television is out of reach. It’s the same for the bronze statues in our public spaces. If powerful, privileged “great men of history” continue to dominate, what message does that send to young women and those from disadvantaged backgrounds about who and what our society values?
I’m pleased to have been able to support the women campaigning for Mary to be memorialised. I hope you’ll join us and help smash
Britain’s bronze ceiling.
maryonthegreen.org