UK to honour suffragist Fawcett with Parliament Square statue

LONDON – Britain for the first time is honouring a woman with a statue in Parliament Square: suffragist Millicent Fawcett, a leader of the campaign to win women the right to vote.

Prime Minister Theresa Mays calls Fawcett an inspiration in the battle against the injustices of today. May said Sunday “it is right and proper that she is honoured in Parliament Square, alongside former leaders who changed our country.”

The statue will be erected as part of celebrations marking the centenary of the People Act of 1918, which gave some women the right to vote. Equal voting rights came a decade later.

Parliament Square in London, in the shadow of the Palace of Westminster, includes statues of some of the world’s most important figures, including Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi.