LONDON (Reuters) – A statue of British womens rights leader Millicent Fawcett will be unveiled on Londons Parliament Square on Tuesday, the first monument to a woman to be erected on the historic site.
Fawcett, one of the leading campaigners for equal rights, will be commemorated in a ceremony to mark 100 years since women won the vote.
Fawcett founded the National Union of Womens Suffrage and in 1866 at the age of 19 she collected signatures for the first petition demanding female the right for women to vote to be handed into parliament.
The bronze casting by female artist Gillian Wearing shows Fawcett holding a banner reading “courage calls to courage everywhere.”
It will stand alongside 11 statues of mostly British statesman such as wartime prime minister Winston Churchill.
The square, which backs onto Britains parliament and is often a centre of political protest, also includes monuments to Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi and South African President and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela.
Reporting by Estelle Shirbon, writing by Elisabeth O'Leary; editing by Michael Holden
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