Tonight the Museum of London Commenced its exhibition for the centenary of women’s suffrage.
A great evening celebrating women when we were reminded as recently as 1971 Switzerland did not allow women the right to vote. Remarkable to think how much the past hundred years have changed for women.
To mark this 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which granted partial female suffrage for the first time. We gathered to celebrate the role of women in business, culture and the arts, the City of London Corporation has planned a variety of activities under the umbrella programme Women: Work and Power.
We heard from the Policy Chairman, the Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, Justine Simons, and Director of the Museum of London, Sharon Ament. Three senior women to remind us of the importance of the contribution of women.
The theme of the exhibition is - Women: work and power
A programme of events and activities that celebrate the role of women in business, culture and the arts, including –
o Nursery Theatre productions (comedy performances by female actors)
o Sounds Like London (highlighting women in music)
o Sculpture in the City (sculpture park which this year features the work of internationally-renowned female artists)
o Heroines of Cinema (a film season celebrating women directors and actors)
o British-Barbadian Nursing Revolution (exhibition in Guildhall Yard)
o Upswing/Motionhouse (acrobatic performance in Guildhall Yard)
This supports the City Corporation wider Culture Mile aims. Where we have ambitions to create a new cultural destination for London between Farringdon and Moorgate. Major schemes include the transformation of Beech Street, a new Museum of London in the disused Victorian market buildings at Smithfield and a potential new Centre for Music at London Wall. Architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro (USA) and Sheppard Robson (UK) have been appointed to develop a design for the Centre for Music by the end of the year.
This all comes at a time when we are supporting - Statues of women in the City - following the June meeting of the Court of Common Council where we approved a motion, in recognition of the centenary of women’s suffrage, to commission a number ofstatues to be placed in prominent public positions of some of the pioneering women who first held high office in the City.
The Corporation is also supporting - Women in Finance
• The 'Women in Finance Charter', launch by HM Treasury in 2016, requires financial services firms to commit to implement actions to improve the representation of women in senior management in financial services.
• There are now 205 signatories to the Charter, covering 650,000 employees across the UK. The City Corporation became a signatory to the Charter earlier this year.
• Last month, the Policy Chairman spoke at the first Annual Review of the Charter, which was undertaken by New Financial, a think tank sponsored by the City Corporation.
• This Review found that 78% of the first group of business signatories either increased or maintained the proportion of women in senior management in the reporting period.
All in all a great way to show our support for women