The Co-operative College and the National Co-operative Archive are celebrating the Heritage Weekend with a joint event commemorating women’s fight for equality.
The Suffragette in the City event – at Sadler’s Yard, Manchester, on 15 September – will feature a free performance from the award-winning Mikron Theatre Company of their live show Revolting Women. This tells the Suffragettes’ story through the eyes of a lesser-known Pankhurst, Sylvia, who fought for the vote alongside working women in the East End after leaving the Manchester-based WSPU (Women’s Social and Political Union).
The performance is followed by a visit to PLANT, a workshop and design space, to view items from the National Co-operative Archive, which belong to women co-operators and depict their involvement in the co-operative societies, the Co-operative Women’s Guild and the campaign for gender equality.
The College will also show the impact of its education programmes, with videos highlighting the difference made through its projects in the UK and internationally.
The free event marks the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act of 1918, which gave 8.5 million women over 30 the right to vote. It was not until 1928 that women gained electoral equality through the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 gave the vote to women at age 21 regardless of any property qualification.
