Category: Feminism

100 Years, 100 Banners: Making a Suffragette Banner for the W.I. (Part 2 of 2)

7/6/2018

We’d made our banner, so what next? First up was Care International’s March4Women www.careinternational.org.uk/march4women on Saturday 4th March. Kate and Esmé, two of my fellow Field Dames banner makers, had collected the poles our banner was to hang from, and we gathered with the rest of the 100 Banners near Parliament Square. That was the first chance we’d really had to see the range of banners that had been produced (though we’d seen some on Twitter and Instagram), and a chance for photographs and mingling before the march. Whenever I’ve been on a march there has always been a lot of waiting around, and this one was no exception. Eventually we were led around the back of Westminster Abbey to join up with the rear of the procession, and made stop-start-stop-start progress to Trafalgar Square, where the rally was being held. I couldn’t carry the banner – I have M.E/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and use a walking stick – but my Mum (also member of Field dames) and I walked along with Esmé and Kate. It was rather a windy day, and the ribbon loops at the bottom of our banner proved very useful finger-holds to prevent it billowing too much! Once at the square I’m afraid we didn’t linger long - I was exhausted, Esmé had things to do, and Kate was in the middle of Lambing Season (yes, really!); my mother and I were also the only two Field dames who could make it to the next ‘100 Banners’ event, and I needed to be in a semi-fit state for that.

Esmé and me at March4Women Photo by Kate McGeevor

Esmé and Kate at March4Women

Some of the 100 banners gathering at March4Women

On Thursday 8th March, International Women’s Day, the project participants gathered at the Royal Albert Hall to be reunited with our banners (which had been handed in after March4Women). First we shuffled in to claim our banners, then we arranged ourselves on the Hall steps for a photo. Mum and I had borrowed a member from another banner group to help with wrangling ours, so I joined various other people standing in the middle of the road taking photos. This done, we shuffled back into the Hall for tea, coffee and talks from Elizabeth Crawford, the historical consultant to ‘100 Banners’, and Suzanne Keyte, the archivist at the Royal Albert Hall.

Banners on the steps of the Royal Albert Hall

100 Banners photo session in front of the Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall played a significant role in the campaign for Women’s Suffrage; at least 25 Suffrage rallies were held there – both Suffragist and Suffragette. In 1908 the hire cost was £150, and £7,000 was raised at the first meeting held there – women donated jewellery as well as money to the cause. Nowadays full capacity is about 5,000 people, but the Suffrage rallies were attended by between 8,000 – 10,000 a time. At first the RAH was very tolerant, but in 1912 the Suffragettes were informed that they could no longer book the Hall unless they took out a Lloyds of London insurance policy for £10,000! In 1913, two days after the death of Emily Wilding Davison, the Suffragettes were banned from the Royal Albert Hall. In 1918 Emmeline Pankhurst was allowed back to celebrate (some) women at last being granted the right to vote.

After refreshments and history there was a banner procession to Kensington Palace. I joined Alison (from Digital Drama), and two other WI members who also had mobility issues, in a cab, and we met up everyone else behind the statue of Queen Victoria for another photo opportunity. Field Dames was at the front by (dubious) virtue of the poles having fallen off en route – a very common occurrence for the banners at this event and at March4Women! After packing up the banners we were then offered more refreshments, and free entry to the Palace.

'Women Unite!' front and centre of the group shot at Kensington Palace

Wider group shot of the 100 Banners at Kensington Palace

The banners made two more stops. They were hung above the stage at the Royal Festival Hall for Mirth Control at the WOW Festival, and are currently part of an exhibition at the London School of Economics: www.lse.ac.uk/library/exhibitions . There are lots of Suffrage Centenary events being held this year in galleries, museums etc. – many stories to hear, and many women to be grateful to; I am proud to have been a part of the tributes to them.

More information: www.digitaldrama.org/project/100-banners/
Banner photos and information: http://www.digitaldrama.org/100-banners-images/

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100 Years, 100 Banners: Making a Suffragette Banner for the W.I. (Part 1 of 2)

4/6/2018

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I’d only been a member of the Women’s Institute for about half an hour when I volunteered to help make a Suffragette banner; it was part of a project called ‘100 Banners’ organised by Digital Drama
www.digitaldrama.org/100-banners/ to mark 100 years since women were first allowed to vote. 2018 is the Centenary of the Representation of the People Act, which granted the vote to property-owning women over the age of thirty - it would be another ten years before women achieved voting parity with men. ‘100 Banners' was/is ‘an artistic response to the campaigns run by Suffragettes and Suffragists in their ambition to achieve women’s equal voting rights’; participants included assorted London museums as well as other WI groups. I’d grown up with an awareness of how hard it was for women to gain the right to vote, and how important it is for us to use it, so I was very excited about being involved with commemorating and celebrating such a milestone.

Early ideas and inspiration for banner

Banner ideas and inspirations including a reproduction Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) - Suffragette badge from the Museum of London

A WhatsApp group was created for the banner volunteers, and we began sharing ideas and inspirations, including original Suffrage banners from the collection in the Women's Library at the London School of Economics. I started off thinking of something quite traditional – oak leaves reflecting the semi-rural nature of Enfield at the time of the Representation of the People Act. As people got more involved we moved away from that, and I took inspiration from a silhouette one of our group had posted on our banner group WhatsApp thread. I liked the idea of ‘ribbons’ forming outlines of faces in the Suffragette colours of purple, white and green; it was important to me to honour the women who had been imprisoned, gone on hunger strike and endured so much else to obtain the vote. Millicent Fawcett’s Suffragists (the law-abiding side of the Women’s Suffrage movement) and Emmeline Pankhurst’s Suffragettes (the militant side) both deserve our gratitude and admiration, but the Suffragette colours are so iconic that it felt wrong not to use them (plus purple is my favourite colour!).

Early version of 'Women Unite!' banner by Kate McGeevor

Later version of 'Women Unite!' banner by Kate McGeevor

Our banner ended up being a mix of traditional and not so traditional! A design meeting led to a sort of constructivist element. We wanted to keep it fairly simple and striking, with a message that was as relevant today as it was to those who campaigned for the vote 100 years ago, especially in the light of ‘Me Too’, ‘Time’s Up’, the BBC pay issue etc. We chose ‘Women Unite’ because to really make change happen people need to come together and take action to get things done and to challenge injustice and inequality. An early idea for a slogan was 'Women! Raise Your Voices! - highlighting the need to speak up about issues that affect us - hence the speech bubble. The purple, white and green colour scheme also helped us make it about ALL women, regardless of race, religion or sexuality – women uniting regardless of things that might be used to divide us. The three silhouettes represent the original suffrage campaigners, the women who worked in the factories and on the land during WWII, and women today; the struggle continues, and there’s still a lot to be done. The type faces are retro – another homage to the women who paved the way and achieved so much, including later 20th century feminists. Continuing the theme of unity, it felt important to stress our own identity as a WI, and Field Dames’ colour is turquoise; the colour went really well with the Suffragette colours. Using a silvery grey instead of white made it a bit less stark and a bit more sparkly!

Fabric swatches for banner

Speech bubble pieces cut out and placed

Placing lettering on the sewn-down speech bubble

Finished banner ready for action! Photo by Kate McGeevor

It wasn't an easy process. As a designer-maker used to working on my own it was at times rather frustrating to have to take other people's opinions into account! But the result was something that brought diverse approaches and opinions together - literally together; as with the original suffrage campaigners, we too had banner-making sessions around dining tables. The physical act of making the banner felt like a tangible link to the women who campaigned with such dedication over a century ago.

(Part 2 coming on Thursday 7th June)

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100 Years, 100 Banners: Making a Suffragette Banner for the W.I. (Part 2 of 2)

100 Years, 100 Banners: Making a Suffragette Banner for the W.I. (Part 1 of 2)

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