Manchester’s Emmeline Pankhurst Statue: The Story Behind Rise Up Women
Why Hazel Reeves put Pankhurst on a chair, how the public helped choose the design, and what the December 2018 unveiling commemorated.
Published
Manchester’s Emmeline Pankhurst statue shows the suffragette standing on a chair, appealing to an audience to support votes for women. Called Rise Up Women, Hazel Reeves’ design emerged from a public selection process. Its unveiling in St Peter’s Square on 14 December 2018 connected a new work of public art with the centenary of some women first voting in a British general election.[1][3]
How Manchester Chose Pankhurst
The Womanchester Statue Project, the campaign behind the commission, began with a question of representation. Its account says that, before Pankhurst’s unveiling, 16 of the 17 statues in Manchester city centre depicted men. Queen Victoria was the exception. Those figures describe the campaign’s historical starting point, rather than a count of the city centre today.[1]
Choosing the woman and choosing the sculpture were separate decisions. The campaign assembled a longlist of 20 women who had contributed to Manchester, then created a shortlist from which the public selected Pankhurst. A later competition asked people to choose their preferred sculptural proposal. According to the campaign, 5,850 people voted in that design competition. Reeves’ chair design won the popular vote and was also the selection panel’s unanimous choice.[1]
Why Reeves Put Pankhurst on a Chair
The chair gives the figure an immediate purpose: Pankhurst is addressing people. The Government Equalities Office, the government body that contributed funding, described the sculpture as showing her standing on a chair and imploring her audience to support women’s suffrage. That term means women’s right to vote. The design presents political persuasion as an action you can recognise.[3]
Reeves’ published account of her proposed maquette, a small model of the sculpture, explains the intention behind that action. Writing during the selection period in 2017, she described Pankhurst in the middle of a rousing speech. She wanted the figure to call on women of the early twentieth century and women of the present to demand justice. This is the artist’s explanation of her proposal, giving us a way to understand the pose without pretending to know what every viewer will see in it.[2]
The title adds an answering voice. Reeves traced Rise Up Women to Pankhurst’s autobiography, My Own Story, and its account of the Women’s Parliament. In the passage she reproduced, the platform’s call to women receives the response “Now!”. Read alongside the design, that exchange makes the audience part of the idea. Pankhurst speaks, but the political action also depends on people answering her.[2]
What the December 2018 Unveiling Marked
The unveiling date was chosen for a specific electoral anniversary. On 14 December 2018, exactly a century had passed since some women first voted and stood as candidates in a UK general election. Keep the word “some” in mind when reading the commemorative language. The anniversary marked that milestone, rather than universal equal voting rights for women in 1918.[3]
Two records capture different moments in the day’s history. The government’s release, published on 14 December 2018, announced that the statue would be unveiled that day. The commissioning campaign’s account confirms that the unveiling took place in St Peter’s Square. Together, they distinguish the planned commemoration from the completed event.[1][3]
The Funding Figures Need Their Context
The campaign says the statue was paid for without public funds “in Manchester”. That geographical qualification matters. The Government Equalities Office recorded a £200,000 contribution to the statue from its Centenary Fund, so the campaign’s wording cannot support a claim that the project received no public funding.[1][3]
A larger figure in the government announcement belongs to a wider programme. Its £1.2 million allocation covered local centenary celebrations across seven places: Bolton, Bristol, Leeds, Leicester, London, Manchester and Nottingham. For this sculpture, £200,000 is the stated government contribution. Neither figure establishes the statue’s complete cost.[3]
Read the Design in the Artist’s Own Words
For a closer reading from home, start with Reeves’ published maquette account and its passage from My Own Story. Then turn to the campaign’s explanation of the public choices behind the commission. You can follow a useful tension between them: the campaign sought to change who was commemorated in Manchester, while Reeves asked how a commemorated woman could be shown doing something. Keep both questions in mind as you read her description of Pankhurst’s speech.[1][2]
Sources and checks
These sources were used for this article. Availability, prices and service details can change after the stated check date.
- Home - The Womanchester Statue Project
Checked 20 October 2026.
The campaign sought to recognise women’s contributions to Manchester. The campaign’s pre-unveiling city-centre count was 16 statues of men out of 17 statues, with Queen Victoria the exception. The statue was unveiled in St Peter’s Square on 14 December 2018. Pankhurst was selected by public vote after a longlist of 20 women was reduced to a shortlist. The design competition attracted 5,850 public votes. Hazel Reeves’ Rise Up Women chair design won the popular vote and unanimous panel support. The campaign qualified its public-funding statement with the words “in Manchester”.
- The Emmeline Pankhurst maquette: “Rise up, women” | Hazel Reeves
Checked 20 October 2026.
Reeves explained her proposed maquette as showing Pankhurst in action during a rousing speech. Her stated intention connected women of the early twentieth century with women of the present. Reeves attributed the title to Pankhurst’s autobiography My Own Story. The autobiographical passage reproduced by Reeves describes a platform call and an answering shout of “Now!”. The article’s discussion of the audience is an interpretation grounded in Reeves’ published design account.
- Statue of Emmeline Pankhurst unveiled in Manchester today - GOV.UK
Checked 20 October 2026.
The government announcement used future tense for the unveiling. Hazel Reeves created the sculpture showing Pankhurst standing on a chair and appealing for support for women’s suffrage. The unveiling formed part of the suffrage centenary commemorations. The statue received a £200,000 Government Equalities Office contribution. The £1.2 million allocation covered celebrations across seven named places and was not the statue’s budget. The stated government contribution does not establish the statue’s total cost.