YEP Says: Do you believe we need statues of women in Leeds?

SHEFFIELD has its Women of Steel, Manchester is getting Emmeline Pankhurst, but which women, should be commemorated as a statue for Leeds?
PIC: James HardistyPIC: James Hardisty
PIC: James Hardisty

Today is International Women’s Day, and the Yorkshire Evening Post is asking you, our readers, which Leeds women you most admire and draw inspiration from and who you think should be cast as a statue.

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Here in the city we have plenty of statues of men, but the women set in metal or stone can be counted on one hand and include Queen Victoria, Henry Moore’s reclining woman and the nymphs in City Square.

All other statues are of men, despite there being some pioneering females in the history of this city; people such as social reformer Mary Gawthorpe or Leeds’ first woman MP Alice Bacon or modern-day heroines such as Jane Tomlinson and Jo Cox.

In Sheffield a statue to the Women of Steel has pride of place in the city centre. It was erected in summer last year and is testament to women who were conscripted to work in the factories and steel mills during both world wars, and kept them running whilst many men were away fighting.

The YEP firmly believes that Leeds’ women deserve some recognition. This is about celebrating the strong, determined women of this city who have left their mark on the city and its people.