When I was about 14, I can clearly remember sitting in my living room one Christmas, reading a book about the suffragettes I’d just been given, and hearing about an event called ‘Black Friday’. “I’m going to go and mark the 100th anniversary of that”, I thought. Little did I know back then that I wouldn’t be the only one.

On Friday November 18, 1910, the WSPU (Women’s Social and Political Union – aka, the suffragettes) were meeting in a hall near the House of Commons. They heard that a bill to allow some women the vote had been ignored by the Prime Minister, so they tried to enter Parliament. They were met by 6000 policemen. Of the 300 women who came, 200 were arrested. Many of the women were verbally abused, physically attacked, and sexually assaulted. Two of the women later died from their injuries.

To remember those events I went along to a Climate Rush meeting marking the anniversary of Black Friday last week. We stood with candles in vigil, remembering the two women who were killed. Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party, and their first ever MP, spoke to us about the need to draw inspiration from the women who were committed to their cause, and willing to work relentlessly for it.

'We stood outside the gates of the Houses of Parliament and yelled “DEEDS, NOT WORDS”, the slogan of the suffragettes'
 

Later, we stood outside the gates of the Houses of Parliament and yelled “DEEDS, NOT WORDS”, the slogan of the suffragettes. We were joined by Helen Pankhurst, grand-daughter of Sylvia Pankhurst (famous suffragette, pacifist, socialist, daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, and my own personal hero!) “A real live Pankhurst!” I heard someone say. Although not exactly star-struck, even I wondered how awesomely awesome it must feel to carry that name, and know that your ancestors were responsible for arguably the most important equality movement that Britain has ever witnessed.

Climate Rush are a fabulous set of environmental activists who get their methods from the Suffragettes, and their anger from the climate change movement. You might think this is a bit of a random link, but actually the issues have much in common: Feminists then were working to get women the right to vote, and the chance to sit in parliament. Feminists now should be listening up and acting against climate change, and here’s why - many more women live in poverty in developing countries than men, and it’s the poorest that will be hit hardest by climate chaos.

 

'Feminists now should be listening up and acting against climate change'
 

In my opinion, Climate Rush are pissed off women. Pissed off because today, 100 years after Black Friday, fewer than 1 in 5 MPs are women, only 1% of the world's money is controlled by women, and for every 10 people displaced by climate change, 7 are women. Which gets me to thinking: there are going to be a whole load more 100th anniversaries of the women’s suffrage movement coming up, culminating in the 1918 granting of the vote to women under 30, then the 1930 extension of voting rights to women on the same grounds as men. Best get planning.

We need to honour the incredible women who fought so that they, and we, could have the right to have a say in who governs our country - and we need to use these opportunities to shout for the rights of marginalised people now.

Words and photo 1: Hannah Brock

Photo 2: Claire Harris Photography.

If you're passionate about climate change check out our Climate Fever competition.