Ipswich Town Hall will be lit in the colours of the suffragettes – purple, white and green – tomorrow, 8 March, for International Women's Day.
The suffragettes were campaigners, overwhelmingly women, who struggled for the right to vote (‘suffrage’) for women at the start of the 20th century. The vote was finally given on an equal basis to women as to men in 1928.
Cllr Sarah Barber, Ipswich Borough Council Portfolio Holder for Town Centre, says:
“What better day to celebrate the campaigning and the eventual victory of the suffragettes than International Women’s Day? The suffragettes are a continuing inspiration to us. They were women who were determined to overturn an obvious wrong and despite many hardships, succeeded in doing so. Ipswich was a town where they were active and where local campaigner Constance Andrews was imprisoned for her suffragette activities. I look forward to the day when there is equal elected representation of women and equality between men and women in society. ”
