The mothers, daughters, sisters and aunties who challenged the status quo and fought for equality will be celebrated throughout March across Greater Manchester in a series of events for International Women’s Day.
Daily walks, photo galleries, gigs and educational talks will take place across the borough to honour Mancunian ladies and their fight for women’s rights over the years.
Manchester’s Emmeline Pankhurst led the British suffragette movement in the early 1900s and campaigned tirelessly for the women’s right to vote.
The movement saw women from all walks of life join together to try and achieve this aim, with some resorting to more violent tactics.
The 1913 Suffragette attack on Manchester Art Gallery saw women break the glass protecting paintings depicting women in provocative poses.
When questioned why she took part suffragette Ethel Smyth said: “There is to me something hateful, sinister, sickening in this heaping up of art treasures, this sentimentalising over the beautiful, while the desecration and ruin of bodies of women and little children by lust, disease, and poverty are looked upon with indifference.”
Learn more about this desecration at the gallery where it all began with the Breaking Glass Talk event on March 28.
If you’d like to see the sights of the city educational walks will be held daily around Manchester City Centre showcasing the suffragettes’ struggle as well as other women who have fled war-torn countries such as Kosovo and Bosnia.
The Imperial War Museum will be broadcasting a harrowing documentary of how the Iraq conflict has affected the women who live there, on March 7.
Exploring how ‘outsiders’ are treated in society is the theme of Salford’s Working Class Library event on March 9.
Guest speakers, including writers Livi Michael and Ruth Eversley, will talk about the Pendle Witches Trial of 1612 and modern-day volunteer work with Oldham Unity.
Oldham will be hosting a workshop looking at women in the creative digital sector on March 7.
Creative Teapot at The Sharp Project has invited 100 women from all backgrounds to look at careers in the creative industry for women.
Guest speakers will include a variety of women working within creative businesses such as Virgin Media and Cisco.
Rose Marley, Director of SharpFutures said: “This year’s International Women’s Day theme is science, technology, engineering and maths, so we wanted to play our part in redressing the balance and encouraging more women to think about entering this sector.”
If tea and cake is more your thing, the Manchester Women’s Institute is hosting a Mad Hatter’s tea party at Manchester’s Virgin Money Lounge on March 9 to raise money for Oxfam.
Institute member Emma Pemberton-Eccles said: “This will be a great opportunity for everyone to find out more about the modern face of the Women’s Institute, right here in Manchester, as well as support Oxfam at the same time.
“It promises to be a fantastic event with crafts and hats on display, as well as cakes baked by some famous faces being sold for charity.”
So having looked at famous and business-savvy women if you want to focus on the women closer to home the People’s History Museum is hosting Mums Matter 2 Mancunians exhibition.
This Mother’s Day the Manchester Oxfam Group is inviting people to go to the museum and share how much their mum matters to them – providing visitors with the opportunity to make flowers and cards.
There have been no shortage of successful Mancunian women throughout the ages who have inspired others and challenged the status quo.
Whatever you get up to on International Women’s Day, remember to raise a glass to all the women who have had a positive impact on your life.
For more information about these events, click here.
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Picture courtesy of Incurable Hippie, with thanks.
