Queen Bee

In Manchester, I found this rather wonderful portrait of Emmeline Pankhurst. Born in 1858 in Manchester to politically active parents, she organised the UK suffragette movement and helped women win the right to vote. Hers is quite a story. Politically and socially active and aware from a young age, she was eventually allowed to join the newly formed Independent Labour Party under Keir Hardie. In 1903, frustrated by the lack of progress in mainstream politics on women's rights, she founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) focused on direct action and protest. She and her daughters, along with other women involved in the movement, were often attacked and imprisoned. Thanks in large part to their efforts over many years, in 1918, women over 30 (with several restrictions) were granted the right to vote. The wall of the patriarchy was breached. 

As to the bees, the bee is the symbol of Manchester, adopted in 1842 to symbolise the way Manchester was born out of hard work and trade. (See HERE) They can be found on the city's coat of arms, on street lights, buildings and artworks all over the city. 

And Mancsy? An anonymous Manchester street artist who started to leave screen prints of his work, all with his trademark bee, around the city for people to find. (See HERE)

On a previous visit to Manchester, I photographed a bronze statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, shown proclaiming her views whilst standing on a chair. Sculpted by Hazel Reeves in 2018, it was the winner of a public vote to choose which woman should be immortalised and it was unveiled to mark the centenary of the first right to vote for (some) women. Apparently the only other statue of a woman, in Manchester, is of Queen Victoria. (Maybe that has changed now...)