We've not managed to get any press coverage for this, so far anyway. So here's some photos and press release. Please re-blog if you have one or share on social media. Cheers!
29th September Media Release: COURAGE CALLS TO WOMEN EVERYWHERE
On 29 September, women from all over the country gathered in St Peter’s square in Manchester – the site of the bronze Emmeline Pankhurst statue, to be unveiled later this year. The statue is commemorate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, a monumental change in British law with a profound impact on society.
Many women, wearing scarves in the suffragette colours of purple, white and green, were dressed in black t-shirts emblazoned with the words “woman: adult human female”, in reference to Mrs Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s billboard in Liverpool that stated the same, and was
controversially removed for being “hate speech”. Others were dressed in red dresses and white bonnets, in reference to the dystopian novel and television programme, “The Handmaid’s Tale” where women are treated as second-class citizens and are deprived of basic human rights.
The protest was to draw attention to proposed legislative changes that will put women’s rights at risk and to do this on the 100th anniversary year of Suffragette protest winning some women the right to vote. The women chose to protest inside the Portland stone ‘meeting circle’ inscribed with the rallying cry of the suffragettes, “Deeds not Words”.
Sarah Cooksley, of Liverpool ReSisters said, “I call upon you all, here and now, to speak up. Defend your rights, before they disappear before your very eyes.”
Some women wore suffragette sashes & T-shirts emblazoned with the words “woman: adult human female”. Others dressed as handmaids; wearing red dresses and cloaks with white bonnets, in reference to the dystopian novel and television programme, “The Handmaid’s Tale” where women are treated as second-class citizens and are deprived of basic human rights.
These women, and many others, are deeply concerned the rights of all women and girls, will be significantly reduced or removed entirely by a proposed change in law colloquially termed, “self ID”. They protest the inclusion of men in women’s spaces, women-only shortlists and women’s awards, as well as in political representation.
The Government is currently consulting on changes to The 2004 Gender Recognition Act. Ministers have suggested that a simple administrative process should permit men to officially become women and women to officially become men.
Manchester based organiser Gemma Griffiths, of the campaign group #ManFriday, said: “Women have had enough; we are calling more women to stand up and publicly voice the concerns they currently only feel able to voice in private”.
Fair Play for Women, an organisation that is also in protest of “self ID”, describes the change in law: “The intention is to make the legal process easier for transgender people. However, this will be at the cost of women’s rights and will effectively signal the end of male-free spaces for women. Service providers are already running ahead of the law and allowing any man who says he’s a woman into their women’s only spaces. GRA reform could see self-identification of sex cemented into UK law; the final nail in the coffin.”