Two years after Caroline Criado Perez first petitioned to get a statue of a woman in Parliament Square, the ribbon was finally cut. She spoke to Izzy Lyons

MILLICENT Fawcett – the suffragist who campaigned for women’s right to vote – yesterday became the first female commemorated in Parliament Square, overlooking the Houses of Parliament.

And it is all down to Ms Criado Perez who, during a run with her dog through central London, noticed there were no statues of women standing alongside some of the most significant figures in British history.

“It was International Women’s Day in 2016 and I was running from east London through Westminster because I was doing a couple of panel discussions,” she says.

“When I got to Parliament Square – and it by no means is the first time I have been to Parliament Square – I suddenly noticed that all the statues were of men. I couldn’t believe it.”

By the time Ms Criado Perez reached the end of her run, she had already written the petition in her head.

She then sat down on a bench outside Buckingham Palace and launched it from her mobile.

Two years later the statue, which features Fawcett holding a banner reading “Courage calls to courage everywhere”, finally stands.

“She’s directly facing Parliament with her placard, so the MPs can see her everyday and think, ‘I should probably go and sort that problem out’,” Ms Criado Perez says.

No stranger to the world of political campaigning, Ms Criado Perez was initially sceptical of running the petition to get a female statue in Parliament Square because of the backlash she received from trying to get Jane Austen on the £10 note.

“I ran the banknotes campaign, so I knew how much work it takes and how much it takes over your life,” she says.

“After the banknotes I got all those horrific rape and death threats so I just wasn’t really feeling the whole campaigning thing – but in the end I just couldn’t stop myself.

“I am so glad I have done it and so far I haven’t got any rape or death threats, so that’s progress I guess,” she adds.

Despite describing herself as “exhausted” by reaching the end of the process, Ms Criado Perez plans to continue campaigning.

She says: “I would like to see more statues overall and more representations of women in public art, specifically women who have existed in the past.

“The more that I read about the amazing women that have come before me, the more angry I am about why I didn’t know about them – why aren’t there statues of these people? Why are they not in the history books? Why are they not on the TV? Why am I not reading about them in the media?

“The hope for me is that this is part of an ongoing conversation that is causing people just to think a little bit.”

Among those at yesterday’s unveiling was Prime Minister Theresa May, who told the assembled crowd: “For generations to come, this statue will serve not just as a reminder of Dame Millicent’s extraordinary life and legacy, but as inspiration to all of us who wish to follow in her footsteps.”

THE bronze figure was produced by Turner Prize winner artist Gillian Wearing. Discussing how she was selected, Ms Criado Perez says: “Other designers and artists just didn’t get it like Gillian did.

“For me, it was very important (Millicent) was middle aged.

“I wanted her to be standing there not at all sexualised, but statesmanlike. We wanted the statue to be her at a meaningful age, so we chose when she was awarded a brooch from the NUWSS (National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies) at 50 years old.”

Commenting on what it feels like now, 25 months after first launching the petition from her phone, Ms Criado Perez says: “I can’t really take the whole thing in. It’s too big really to contemplate that it’s finally happening.”