Where are all the women?

After a very lovely day in London, I have been putting off writing this blog. I've put it off because it is going to make me sound like a tub-thumping grumpy old feminist. I know that you know that already and you may be fooled into thinking that I don't care what people think of me but I have been brought up well enough to know that 'nice girls' don't bang on about things that don't really matter. I mean, look at how that woman who got Jane Austen onto a bank note was treated although that was no surprise because she was an ugly lesbian that no man would want to sleep with anyway. She probably deserved it for getting so worked up about something that didn't matter; who actually cares about Jane Austen, anyway?

But it does matter, doesn't it? It matters that girls grow up with role models. It matters that women are commemorated not just as men's sexual playthings but for their own contribution to the world. It matters that we don't just see men on banknotes. It matters that girls know they can grow up to be important other than by being the Queen, which is unattainable for everyone living in the country today (unless Charlotte plans a fatal accident for her brother)

I left my son, who was having an interview for a summer job and walked up Whitehall. There were lots of statues and I started taking pictures.

I didn't recognise many of the names but their statues made me want to know more about them.

They were all men. "Of course they are," I told myself, "they're all military leaders, there weren't women. They didn't exist then."

In fact, all the women disappeared at war time and just left their clothes behind, so that they could appear naked on the edges of buildings.

There were lots of men on horses. I understand now. Horses make great statues and women and horses don't go together at all. Never once has a little girl devoted her whole life to her pony or ridden in any kind of event, the horses all make it perfectly clear: they will only be ridden by men.

Then I found one.

but on closer inspection it turned out to be a pretty Roman, with exceptionally nice legs.

I looked up. Was that a woman?

Don't be silly. The highest and most important statue in the whole of London is, of course Nelson. I was beginning to get a bit grumpy about the whole thing.

Even the lions are male.

I made it my mission to find statues of women. There have to be some that are worthy enough for bronze or marble. 

I started in theatreland, thinking that as women have always excelled in the arts there would at least be a Nell Gwynn or Sarah Siddons somewhere. I found this captivating dancer outside the Royal Opera/Ballet House.

However, she has no name. 

I found Oscar Wilde, Charlie Chaplin and Shakespeare, in  fact I think I found several Shakespeares.

I had walked all morning, I was tired and my son was soon to finish his half day interview (jobs are hard to get these days, even if they are only for 6 weeks), so I walked back up Whitehall to sit by the Thames for a few moments. 

There she was: Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst, tucked in the corner of Victoria Park, next to Westminster, quiet and unassuming with a gesture that said, "What did you expect? This is how it is. Say something if you don't like it."

Thinking that only Queens could be famous, we made our way to Buckingham Palace. The Queen Victoria memorial statue is a good one. It has balance. Victoria looks regal and never has to squint into the sun.

She is surrounded by balance. Where there is a man as a warrior, there is a woman. There are both  male and female farmers and there are no nipples on display. 

Behind Victoria is a memorial to women as mothers.

I liked this. Being able to grow a foetus into a baby and then nourish it to toddlerhood is nothing to be ashamed of.  I think it's part of a woman's magic and why men are so scared of us.  If we can do that, we can do anything.

I discussed the whole statue problem with my son. We decided that on our walk we had seen more statues of animals than we had of women. He told me that it didn't make sense as only 42% of the U.K. population is male.

Then we found one more making my statue count 3% female 97% male, I'm so pleased that we live in such a representative society. (Just in case you hadn't noticed: this blog contains a lot of sarcasm)