List of monuments and memorials to women's suffrage

Women's suffrage refers to the right of a woman to vote in an election. This right was often not included in the original suffrage legislation of a state or country, resulting in both men and women campaigning to introduce legislation to enable women to vote. Actions included writing letters to newspapers and legislators, compiling petitions, holding marches and rallies and carrying out acts of violence. Women were on occasion arrested for these actions and held in jail, during which time some went on hunger strikes, refusing to eat for the duration of their incarceration.

Monuments and memorials to women's suffrage have been constructed around the world in recognition of the bravery and strength of the women who campaigned for voting rights, and the achievement of having the legislation passed.

Australia[edit]

Name Location Year Notes
Statue of Emma Miller Brisbane 1993 Commemorates the contribution of a leading suffragist
Centenary of Western Australian Women's Suffrage Memorial Perth 1998 Marks the centenary of women's suffrage in Western Australia
Centenary of Women's Suffrage mural Lake Grace 1998 Marks the centenary of women's suffrage in Western Australia
Centenary of Women's Suffrage Gazebo Kondinin 1999 Marks the centenary of women's suffrage in Western Australia
Centenary of Women's Suffrage Commemorative Fountain Canberra 2003 Marks the centenary of women's suffrage in Australia
Resilience sculpture Brisbane 2007 Marks the centenary of women's suffrage in Queensland
Great Petition sculpture Melbourne 2008 Marks the centenary of women's suffrage in Victoria

Canada[edit]

Name Location Year Notes
"Women are Persons!" Ottawa 2000 Commemorates the five suffragists who filed and won the Persons Case, enabling women to be appointed to the Senate of Canada

New Zealand[edit]

Name Location Year Notes
Mural at Khartoum Place Auckland 1993 Commemorates Auckland suffragists
Kate Sheppard National Memorial Christchurch 1993 Commemorates the lives of New Zealand's leading suffragists
Puketapapa Women's Suffrage Memorial Auckland 2013 Commemorates the local women suffragists of the community

United Kingdom[edit]

Annie Kenney to the left, Mary Blathwayt at centre and Emmeline Pankhurst, with the spade, at Eagle House in 1910
Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst Memorial, Victoria Tower Gardens
Bessie Watson, the youngest Scottish suffragette (aged 9)
Name Location Year Artist Notes
Annie's Arboretum Eagle House, Batheaston 1909–1913 (destroyed in the 1960s) Emily and Colonel Linley Blathwayt Commemorated c. 60 suffragists and suffragettes
The Suffrage Oak Glasgow 1918 Scottish suffragists Oak tree planted to mark the passing of the Representation of the People Act 1918.
Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst Memorial London 1930 Arthur George Walker Commemorates the lives of two leading suffragists
Suffragette Memorial London 1970 Lorne McKean and Edwin Russell with Paul Paget Commemorates the bravery of the suffragists
The Pankhurst Parlour Manchester 1987 Historical site and memorial
Sylvia Pankhurst (artwork) London 2011 ? Commemorates the contribution of a leading suffragist
Alice Hawkins (statue) Leicester 2018 Sean Hedges-Quinn Commemorates the life of a leading local suffragist
Millicent Fawcett (statue) London 2018 Gillian Wearing Commemorates the contribution of a leading suffragist
Emily Wilding Davison (statue) Morpeth 2018 Ray Lonsdale A welded steel statue portraying the suffragette tipping over a bowl of food, in reference to her hunger strike
Rise up, Women (Emmeline Pankhurst statue) Manchester 2018 Hazel Reeves Commemorates the suffragettes' leader in the city of her birth
Annie Kenney (statue) Oldham 2018 Denise Dutton Commemorates the only working-class woman to hold a senior position in the suffragette movement
Bessie Watson (memorial plaque) Edinburgh 2019 Commemorates the youngest Scottish girl (age 9) in the suffragette movement

United States[edit]

Name Location Year Notes
Portrait Monument to Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony Washington, D.C. 1921 Commemorates the lives of leading suffragists of the United States
Statue of Esther Hobart Morris Cheyenne, Wyoming 1953 Commemorates the life of one of Wyoming's leading suffragists
Minnesota Woman Suffrage Memorial Saint Paul 2000 Commemorates the women who campaigned for the state legislature to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, to give women the right to vote. Minnesota was the 15th state to ratify the amendment, doing so in 1919.
Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial Knoxville 2006 Commemorates the women who campaigned for the state legislature to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, to give women the right to vote. Tennessee was the final state to ratify the amendment, doing so in 1920.
Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument Washington, D.C. 2016 Commemorates the headquarters of the National Woman's Party, a key political organization in the fight for women's suffrage, and two of its leaders, Alva Belmont and Alice Paul.
Women's Rights Pioneers Monument New York, New York 2020 Commemorates Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and all of the women involved in the women's suffrage movement. This is the first statue in Central Park representing historical women and was organized by Monumental Women.
Stand Lexington, Kentucky, near the intersection of Vine and Mill Streets 2020 Statue by Barbara Grygutis celebrating the 100th anniversary of the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The statue consists of the silhouettes of five generic, unnamed suffragists.[1]
Turning Point Suffragist Memorial Lorton, Virginia 2021 Monument to American suffragists that stands in close proximity to Occoquan Workhouse, a prison where 168 suffragists were held during the Silent Sentinels voting rights demonstrations in the late 1910s.
On the Wings of Change Chicago, Illinois 2021 Monument to suffrage leaders who worked in Chicago created by artist Diosa (Jasmina Cazacu) on the Wabash Arts Corridor.

The ten women featured in the mural are: Jane Addams, Myra Bradwell, Mary Livermore, Catharine Waugh McCulloch, Agnes Nestor, Grace Wilbur Trout, Mary Fitzbutler Waring, Ida B. Wells, Frances Willard, and Fannie Barrier Williams.[2]

Women's Suffrage National Monument Washington, DC TBD Forthcoming monument established by a 2020 act of Congress.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "'Stand' statue honoring women suffragists unveiled in Lexington". WLEX. August 20, 2020.
  2. ^ "Chicago's First Public Art Project to Honor Suffrage Leaders – on the Wings of Change – Makes its Debut in the Wabash Arts Corridor". 17 November 2021.

Bibliography[edit]