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.
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)
(Part 2 coming on Thursday 7th June)
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