#Emilymatters – Suffragette returns to Parliament

 

Over one hundred years ago the suffragettes took their Votes for Women campaign to Parliament and 2014 has seen them return, in style.

 

On Thursday 13th February 2014, To Freedom’s Cause returned Emily Wilding Davison to the House of Commons for the first time in over a hundred years, as part of a special event in support of Emily Thornberry MP’s  important Emily Davison Statue in Parliament campaign (petition).

Here’s a micro clip of the historic performance:

 

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The location of the event was extremely important. It would have been possible to hold the event in a larger room in Portcullis House, just across the road from the House of Commons.

However, it felt right that the play and the debate, chaired by Jane Garvey (BBC Radio Four Woman’s Hour presenter), should take place in the same building where Emily Davison made her audacious 1911 Census Night protest occupation of the House of Commons that the late Tony Benn commemorated with a plaque in the cupboard where she hid.

 

 

 

In a BBC Radio Four interview, Faye Ward, the producer of the feature film, Suffragette, outlined why taking the story to the place where the women protested matters so much:

 

The real suffragettes did walk these corridors and fight in these corridors to get the vote, so it feels incredibly poignant that we’re here telling their story in the same place that they were.
– Faye Ward, Producer, Suffragette

 

Emily Wilding Davison and her sister suffragettes would be shocked by the UK’s dearth of women in Westminster and in boardrooms across the land. As a result the UK lies 58th in an international league of parliamentary female representation.

 

A hundred years on from the epic battle of the suffragettes, the centre of our democracy,
the institution that frames our modern laws and moulds them to meet the needs of the age,
feels, in terms of equality, the most backward place of all.
– Lucy Fisher, Emily Wilding Davison biographer & Political reporter at
The Observer, ‘Does Westminster have a problem with women?‘ article

 

Last week the Government reduced the number of women still further to just 3, leaving 90% of the cabinet made up of white men with substantial financial means. Hardly representative of a modern democracy.

 

 

This is why Emily Thornberry MP’s campaign to get a statue of suffragette Emily Davison Statue in Parliament (petition) is so important, because women are still not seen in a Parliament dominated by a sea of blokes in grey suits.

In the following clip, Emily Thornberry MP talks about why a statue of suffragette Emily Davison in the Houses of Parliament matters:

 

 

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Emily Davison played a pivotal role in giving women an equal voice in society and her connections to Parliament are strong, so the February event also included a debate entitled ‘To Freedom’s Cause’ the campaign for equality – still worth fighting for? that focused on Emily Wilding Davison’s legacy today.

Chaired by Jane Garvey (BBC Radio Four Woman’s Hour presenter) with Dr Helen Pankhurst (Great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst), Chi Onwurah MP (Shadow Cabinet Office Minister & Member for Newcastle upon Tyne Central), Emma Barnett (Women’s Editor of The Daily Telegraph and broadcaster) and Yas Necati (Feminist campaigner and winner of The Guardian Women awards 2013: Best hope for the future, UK).

Here’s a mini trailer for the debate:

 

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More footage from the historic event in the House of Commons will be posted shortly, including a more comprehensive audio version of the debate.

 

Please add your support for the Emily Davison statue in Parliament campaign by signing the petition and sending an #Emilymatters photo of support to via Twitter / Instagram / Facebook:

 

 

There are more exciting developments in the pipeline for the campaign, which To Freedom’s Cause is proud to support. For more information on how to get involved, click here.

#Emilymatters supports gender equality & the Emily Davison Statue in Parliament campaign, which was founded in June 2013 by Emily Thornberry MP.

#Emilymatters was created by Kate Willoughby as part of the social media campaign to open up the historic House of Commons event in February 2014.

There’s also the new To Freedom’s Cause & Other #Emilymatters paper.li newsletter, which gives you a weekly update on all things related to the play, the Emily Davison statue campaign & gender equality.

 

We have come a long way since Emily Wilding Davison and her sister suffragettes first campaigned for women to have equal voting rights. However, there is still some way to go before we achieve true equality, so please lend your support to the Emily Davison Statue in Parliament campaign & other great causes, including #Emilymatters supporters No More Page 3 and 5050Parliament.

 

 

Emily Davison’s legacy is for life, not just for 2013.