The decision to raise a statue to Dame Millicent Fawcett, the campaigner for votes for women, in London’s Parliament Square (where there are 11 statues of men) is not just a victory for feminism: it’s also a recognition of the achievements of change through constitutional and peaceful means.
The more flamboyant lives of the Suffragettes have hitherto claimed the greater claim to fame. Mrs Pankhurst has been portrayed by Vanessa Redgrave and Meryl Streep. The movie Suffragette gives much historical credit for winning votes to Emily Wilding Davison, the unbalanced extremist who threw herself under the king’s horse at the 1913 Derby (years later, the jockey committed suicide, unable to forget the trauma).
