It takes courage to admit that we are vulnerable and conquer the fear of perceived failure, or even actual failure. In the race to live up to other’s expectations, we forget to set and live up to our own. On first reading one would say, ‘But this is what we do!’ Well, do we? The expectation should be to have the confidence to try, take risks, dare to voice our thoughts, feelings and concerns. You have also put photographic etchings of other suffrage campaigners—including the Pankhursts—around the plinth. What was the motivation for this? Wearing won the Turner Prize in 1997 and was awarded an OBE in 2011. She is represented by Maureen Paley, London, Tanya Bonakdar, New York and Regen Projects, Los Angeles.

In her conception of the Fawcett statue, Wearing drew on her previous body of work, Signs that Say What You Want Them To Say and Not Signs that Say What Someone Else Wants You To Say (1992-3). Arguably some of her most iconic images, Wearing approached strangers on the street and asked them to write down an inner thought on a large piece of white card. Those who agreed were then photographed by Wearing holding up their personal statement, making their private feelings into a public work of art. The most famous, included here, depicts a clean-cut man in a suit holding a card with the words “I’m desperate”. The College aims to nurture and empower women to embrace the challenge of stepping out of the box and making a difference. For me, the ‘dos and don’ts’ at Newnham are defined by the individual, their values, and their path to achieve their goals. I remember how Newnham students walked on the grass while discussing with a Fellow who inspired them, sat on the grass while working in a groupon an assignment, had a drink with alumnae who supported their journey, or simply read a book and enjoyed the gardens during their ‘quiet time’! A spokesman for the attorney general’s office confirmed that it had received multiple complaints about the leniency of the sentencing. He added: “The case will of course be considered for referral to the court of appeal.”It was felt that acceptance was still some ways off in the future and who would come forward? In July 1970, Br Paul Gubi and Sr Valerie Barker brought forward a proposal that women be accepted for the ordained ministry. The proposal was accepted and one month later Sr Emily Shaw wrote to the Provincial Board: 'I see the ordination of women as way to open to greater service those who feel called to do this work in a world which needs more of the Spirit of Jesus Christ in its midst, if ever men and women are to be happy.'

But while there are signs of progress it is the pace and consistency of change that is disappointing. (1)The Royal Society of Edinburgh’s report, Tapping All Our Talents 2018, highlight that the proportion of female STEM graduates in the UK working in the sector has increased by only 3% from 27% in 2012 to 30% in 2017. In industry, UK-level figures indicate that the proportion of women in core STEM professions rose from 13% to 23% in the same period. In most STEM subjects across colleges and universities, the proportion of female students has seen, at best, incremental improvement (e.g., from 11% in 2012 to 13% in 2016 in undergraduate engineering) and, at worst, further decline (e.g., from 54% in 2012 to 43% in 2017 in college-level IT frameworks). The statue was part of the 14-18 NOW series of artistic commissions that marked the centenary commemorations of World War I. [18] Rival campaigns [ edit ] The Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst Memorial in Victoria Tower Gardens in 2015 From this point on the role of sisters in Church Service again began to be grappled with. Between 1745 and 1760, 200 women were ordained deaconesses under Zinzendorf's leadership and they were mainly responsible for the ministry and work of the sisters' choirs. However even at this time, women generally did not preach in Church and while this is something that Zinzendorf would later come to express regret for, the practice of these ordinations stopped after his death in 1760. By the beginning of the twentieth century, sisters could be found in many areas of church service but the idea of a woman in the pulpit or pastoral charge over male members of the congregation was initially incomprehensible. In 1925 a proposal came forward to Synod for the acceptance of suitable women candidates for the Ministry. It did not pass, but instead it was referred for discussion at a local level, to return to the Synod in 1926. From that point it was continually deferred until 1943 when the conversation gained traction again, but lively debate continued at local levels and through correspondence in this very publication. She was particularly focussed on the rights of working women. She campaigned against child labour and child sexual abuse and was involved in the criminalisation of incest. She campaigned against the practice of excluding women from courtrooms when sexual offences were under consideration and fought to see the legal profession and civil service opened up to women and for equal access for women to divorce. She was a proud and committed feminist and wrote the introduction to the republished Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1891, by Mary Wollstonecraft.Contrary to what some may believe, Millicent Fawcett supported the suffragettes when they emerged onto the scene in the early 20th century, welcoming their militancy and their headline-grabbing ability. She also raised money for suffragettes who had been in prison. But when she felt their tactics were becoming too violent and counter-productive, she distanced herself from them. Diminutive in scale, Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere by Gillian Wearing, is a bronze maquette (small working model) for a larger sculpture of the suffragist and feminist leader, Millicent Fawcett, that was commissioned in 2017 for Parliament Square. In Fawcett’s hands is a banner with the words ‘Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere’ referencing words she wrote in 1913 after the death of Emily Wilding Davison, the British Suffragette who fought for equal voting rights for women. In 2018, Wearing commented on the subject of her sculpture: The fight for women's suffrage in Britain was a long fought battle, spearheaded by the Suffragette movement. Here are 6 quotes that define this legendary movement of British History. From the #MeToo movement she makes what seems like an odd swerve into discussing AI because computer science/Silicon Valley is very male-dominated and she wants to be sure women have a respected role in the future. My reaction to this was the same as to Beard’s book and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s We Should All Be Feminists: you can’t (and I don’t) dispute what the author has to say; for the most part the points are compelling and well made. Yet I don’t necessarily feel that I learned anything, or saw something familiar in a new way. On the political stage, the Representation of the People Act was passed in 1918, extending the vote to women for the first time. A success for the Suffrage movement, 8.5 million women in the UK were enfranchised, yet it was a stuttering start. Only women over the age of 30 who met the property qualification were entitled to vote. Two thirds of the female population remained without a vote until the Equal Franchise Act 1928.

Yet in walking in such a light with courage of conviction, Sr Shaw, carried the baton from all those before her - both sisters and brothers - who persevered to a new body, a body of courageous ordained women ministers all of who to this day continue to push new boundaries and rise to challenges in their ministry on a daily basis. I didn’t 100% agree with everything she said (which is totally ok, it’s a contentious issue and we all have varying degrees of opinions on feminism and gender issues!), but I loved the way she wrote about the topic. I found myself at various points saying “Yeah!” and getting fired up on certain topics.

Courage alone is not enough

The #MeToo movement isn't a return to Victorian values. Women aren't shrinking violets asking to be protected. The statue of Newnham’s co-founder Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847–1929) was created by Turner Prize-winning artist, Gillian Wearing (b.1963). The full-size statue stands in Parliament Square, following a campaign by the journalist Caroline Criado Perez. The campaign highlighted that fewer than 3% of statues in the UK are of women, other than those of members of the royal family.