Monument to feminist trailblazer Fawcett erected outside London's parliament

LONDON: A statue of British women’s rights leader Millicent Fawcett has been unveiled on London’s Parliament Square on Tuesday, the first monument to a woman to be erected on the historic site.

Fawcett, one of the leading campaigners for equal rights, was commemorated in a ceremony to mark 100 years since women won the vote.

Fawcett founded the National Union of Women’s Suffrage and in 1866 at the age of 19 she collected signatures for the first petition demanding female the right for women to vote to be handed into parliament.

The bronze casting by female artist Gillian Wearing shows Fawcett holding a banner reading “courage calls to courage everywhere.”

The statue stands alongside 11 statues of mostly British statesman such as wartime prime minister Winston Churchill.

The square, which backs onto Britain’s parliament and is often a centre of political protest, also includes monuments to Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi and South African President and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela.