100 Years of Suffrage: What It Means to be a Woman in 2018

The 6 February 2018 marked 100 years since the Representation of the People Act was passed in Britain, giving (some) women the right to vote. To mark the 100 Years of Suffrage centenary, a host of exhibitions and activities are happening across the country. Here, we round up the best, as well as introduce our editorial series to mark the occasion.

100 Years of Suffrage; What It Means to Be a Woman in 2018

The Representation of the People Act 1918 was passed on 6 February 1918. This gave women over the age of 30 who met the specified property requirements the right to vote for the first time. (Women under 30, and who didn’t meet the criteria, had to wait another 10 years for the privilege.)

To mark the anniversary, we’ll be interviewing a series of women of note to find out ‘what it means to be a woman in 2018’ and explore how far women have come in the last 100 years, and how far we still have to go. If you would like to nominate a ‘woman of note’ to take part in this, please let us know in the comments at the bottom of this article.

Listen to our episode of the What’s On Podcast dedicated to 100 Years of Suffrage, below. (And subscribe to the What’s On podcast, here.)

What’s On by C&TH’s What It Means to Be a Woman in 2018 Interviews

• Sabrina Mahfouz
• Hannah Shergold
• Thomasina Miers
• Charlie Craggs
• Juliet Sargeant
• Wendy Holden
• Dr Helen Pankhurst
• Kate March
• Farah Kabir & Sarah Welsh
• Emma Clancy
• Pippa Richardson
• Jessica Huie
• Helen Walmsley-Johnson
• Gemma Cairney
• Mara Altman
• Amy Murphy

The best current art exhibitions in London

What’s On?

209 Women

‘209 Women’ is a national artist-led project founded by Hilary Wood that aims to champion the visibility of women, particularly in male-dominated environments. One hundred years after women first gained the right to sit in Parliament as MPs, the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art will host the ‘209 Women’ exhibition from 14 December 2018 to 14 February 2019. Unveiled in time for the anniversary of the first election where some women could cast a vote, the exhibition includes portraits of female MPs, all photographed by female photographers in an all-female initiative. The exhibition will hang in Westminster and will be curated by Hilary Wood(Founder/Director of ‘209 Women’ and photographer), Tracy Marshall (Director of Development and Partnerships at Open Eye Gallery), Cheryl Newman (Artist, curator and former Director of Photography of the Telegraph magazine) and Lisa Tse (Brand Consultant, TV Producer and founder of women’s club The Sorority).

Emmeline Pankhurst Statue Unveiling, Manchester

Marking exactly 100 years since some women voted in the UK voted in the General Election, a new statue of renowned feminist figure Emmeline Pankhurst will be unveiled in her hometown, Manchester. Marchers should meet at either the Pankhurst Centre or the People’s History Museum, where the march will continue to St Peter’s Square to greet Our Emmeline, where local dignitaries and a choir will be congregated! 14 December, womanchesterstatue.org

Yorkshire Sculpture Park: The Coffin Jump

Yorkshire Sculpture Park unveiled a new work on 18 June, by contemporary artist Katrina Palmer, which celebrates the role of women in the First World War as part of 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary. The work references the all-female First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY). Founded in 1907, Captain Edward Baker’s conception of the FANY was of women on horseback riding to the rescue of fallen men in the battlefield. In spite of the nurses’ courage, the British Army initially refused to be associated with the liberated women of the FANY. Palmer makes reference to their battle against prejudice through words on the artwork drawn from sources including the 1918 diaries of FANY member Muriel Thompson. The Coffin Jump will occasionally be activated by a horse and local rider who will gallop across the Park and make the jump: A symbol of independent mobility and action, capturing the emergence of female emancipation. For more information on the history of FANY, the organisation’s work today and the sculpture, visit ysp.org.uk.

ART: The Foundling Museum 2018: marking 100 years of female suffrage

The Foundling Museum is hosting a year-long programme of exhibitions, displays and events to mark 100 Years of Suffrage. The programme will include a showcase of hidden items from the archive chosen by leading female figures in British society, a site-responsive commission by artist Jodie Carey that celebration of the women who played a vital role in the establishment and running of the Foundling Hospital and an exploration of female artists and makers represented in the Museum Collection.

First Amongst Equals
16 January onwards

‘Remarkable women who have shaped contemporary British society choose objects that speak to them from the Museum’s Collection. Spanning 300 years of social history, culture and philanthropy, selections will enable visitors to see the Collection from different perspectives, to make connections between the past and the present, and to reflect on women’s ongoing struggle for equality. Contributors, who have all achieved firsts within their respective fields, include Maria Balshaw (first female Director of Tate), Moira Cameron (first female ‘Beefeater’, Yeoman Warder of the Tower of London), Baroness Hale of Richmond (first female President of the Supreme Court), Francesca Hayward (first black female principal dancer at the Royal Ballet), Carris Jones (first female chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral), Joanne Moore (first female tailor to have a men’s tailoring business on Saville Row), and Frances O’Grady (first female General Secretary of the TUC).’ Find out more at foundlingmuseum.org.uk

Votes for Women at the Museum of London
2 February 2018 – 6 January 2019

This new display features iconic objects that offer a chance to better understand the perseverance of well known, and lesser known suffragettes. As well as a film showing some of the figures who campaigned tirelessly to achieve votes for women, Emmeline Pankhurst’s hunger strike medal and Louise Mary Eates pendent, presented to her on her release from prison, will be on display. museumoflondon.org.uk

Women and Power: The National Trust

Women and Power is the theme for the second year of the Trust’s ‘Challenging Histories’ programme to tie in with the anniversary. Their national public programme aims to share, celebrate and unpick some of the more complex or hidden histories relevant to National Trust places, in line with the theme.

Listen to our interview with Rachael Lennon, curator of the programme, below (part of our 100 years of suffrage podcast special.

Faces of Change: Votes for Women – National Trust/National Portrait Gallery partnership exhibition

The Workhouse, Nottinghamshire, April – July 2018
Killerton, Devon, August – November 2018
Mount Stewart, Northern Ireland, November 2018 – February 2019

As part of the National Trust’s partnership with the National Portrait Gallery, Montacute and Beningbrough will both open new displays as part of the Women and Power season this year. This year also sees the development of this partnership with a touring exhibition to three further properties as part of the women’s suffrage anniversary.

Expect to see photographs, prints, drawings and paintings from the Gallery’s collection alongside some of each of the properties’ own collection items which bring portraiture and places together. The touring display presents an overview of the campaign for Votes for Women from the late 19^th century until 1918.  Alongside portraits of key figures there will be special objects including surveillance photographs of militant suffragettes, issued to the National Portrait Gallery by Scotland Yard during the height of militant violence.

See more of the Trust’s plans for the year at nationaltrust.org.uk/womenandpower.  

100 Years On: An Art Trial by Women in Prison
From 8 March

The Koestler Trust are producing an art trial of 100 framed painting, drawings, sculptures and poems by women in prison which will be filling several important London venues and public buildings throughout the UK this year. The events will be supported by Barrow Cadbury Trust in celebration of the life and work of Helen Cadbury, a champion of women prisoners, who passed away in June 2017. koestlertrust.org.uk

ART: Art on the Underground

There is to be a year-long exhibition on the London Underground to mark 100 Years of Suffrage, with an all-female artist line-up for the Transport for London public art programme for 2018.

Artists involved include British artist Heather Phillipson, who will fill the 80 metre disused platform at Gloucester Road with a ‘sculptural intervention’. Nigerian-born artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Romanian artist Geta Brătescu and French artist Marie Jacotey are also involved. British artist, musician and punk icon Linder is creating a piece for Southwark station.

“The spaces of our cities are not neutral, and neither is space afforded to public art. Wider social inequalities are played out in the structures of urban life. Through 2018, Art on the Underground will use its series of commissions to reframe public space, to allow artists’ voices of diverse backgrounds and generations to underline the message that there is no single women’s voice in art – there are however many urgent voices that can challenge the city’s structures of male power.” – Eleanor Pinfield, Head of Art on the Underground

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