Votes for women campaigner to be honored with statue outside British parliament

A statue is to be erected outside the Houses of Parliament in London of a famous suffragette who led the campaign to win for British women the right to vote, the government announced Sunday.

The statue of Millicent Fawcett will be the first woman to be honored with a statue in Parliament Square. Thousands of people supported a campaign for Fawcett to be remembered, including the author J.K.Rowling who wrote the Harry Potter books.

As president of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett, led the peaceful campaign for women's suffrage. She also campaigned for women's rights in many other areas, including access to higher education. She first started campaigning at the age of 19.

The statue of Fawcett will form part of celebrations to mark the centenary of the parliament bill that in 1918 gave women aged 30 and over the right to vote in British elections. It would be a further 10 years, just a year before Fawcett's death, before women won the same rights as men to vote. The voting age for men and women in Britain is now 18.

In a statement Sunday welcoming the move, British Prime Minister Theresa May said: "The example Millicent Fawcett set during the struggle for equality continues to inspire the battle against the burning injustices of today. It is right and proper that she is honored in Parliament Square alongside former leaders who changed our country. Her statue will stand as a reminder of how politics only has value if it works for everyone in society." Endit