Statue of suffragist Millicent Fawcett unveiled in Parliament Square today
A statue commemorating suffragist Millicent Fawcett will be unveiled in Parliament Square today, and will be the first ever monument of a woman there.
London mayor Sadiq Khan, who has called the statue "long overdue", will be attending the unveiling of the bronze cast which is due to coincide with a centenary of women winning the right to vote.
Members of the public have been invited to attend the unveiling, which will be held in Parliament Square at 11am, and people can arrive from 10.45am to secure a space.
Read more: Parliament Square's first statue of a woman will be unveiled
Fawcett campaigned for women's right to vote during the early 20th century and is regarded as one of the most influential feminists of the past 100 years. Fawcett founded the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in 1897, with the organisation using peaceful tactics for campaigning such as petitions and the lobbying of MPs.
The statue of the suffragist has been designed by Turner Prize-winning artist Gillian Wearing, and she will be the first female sculptor to have a work displayed in the square.
Gillian Wearing has created the casting
A petition was started by campaigner Caroline Criado Perez to get the first statue of a woman in Parliament Square, and that was signed by nearly 85,000 people.
The mayor responded to the campaign and following a process undertaken by the Suffrage Statue Commission, Wearing was chosen to create the statue of Fawcett.
The statue will portray Fawcett with a placard saying "courage calls to courage everywhere", from a speech she gave following the death of campaigner Emily Wilding Davison.
Among the men who have been honoured with statues in London are Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George and William Gladstone.
Read more: Millicent Fawcett will be the first ever female statue in Parliament Square
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