Chrystal Macmillan

Chrystal Macmillan was the first woman to graduate with a science degree from Edinburgh university, a vigorous campaigner not only for women's suffrage, but also for a broad range of rights for women. In the course of her activism on women's suffrage she became the first woman to speak before the House of Lords. Macmillan was a pacifist campaigner in the first world war, during which she met with and influenced US president Woodrow Wilson. Macmillan's peace campaigning eventually led her to become a founder member of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. During the first world war Macmillan also spoke out against the practice of a woman assuming her husband's nationality upon marriage, a practice she continued to campaign against throughout the rest of her life. Macmillan was also a lawyer, during her training she co-founded the Open Door Council that sought to extend equal opportunities to women in the workplace. Whilst campaigning to be elected as a Liberal candidate for Edinburgh (unsuccessfully, the House of Commons missed out enormously there), Macmillan also worked to stop sex trafficking. Macmillan has recently been commemorated by having a building named after her at Edinburgh University.

Eliza Wigham

Eliza Wigham was the secretary of the Edinburgh Ladies Emancipation Society, member of the executive committee of the Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage, member of the executive committee of the Edinburgh National Women's Suffrage Society, and several other committees in this vein. She publicly protested against the Contagious Diseases Act which penalized prostitutes by subjecting them to humiliating medical examinations and incarcerating them in hospitals if they showed signs of venereal disease. Wigham was also a governor of the London School of Medicine for Women, member of the influential Ladies Edinburgh Debating Society, ran a penny savings bank for 40 years, and ran the Women's Working Society for Mothers' Meeting for 37 years. Wigham financially supported the work of Harriet Tubman in running the underground railroad for slaves in the United States.

Sophia Jex-Blake

Sophia Jex-Blake is another pioneering Edinburgh based doctor deserving of more recognition.

Sophia Jex-Blake was a leading campaigner for the admission of women into medical schools, founder of two medical schools and the now closed Bruntsfield women's hospital. Jex-Blake fought hard throughout her life for women to have the right to train and practice as doctors.

Elsie Inglis

So which women should be commemorated with statues? We have identified several candidates who deserve more recognition for their works.

Elsie Inglis was a pioneering doctor and suffragist, an obvious choice for a statue. She had been commemorated on the £50 Clydesdale banknote, and the fondly remembered Elsie Inglis maternity hospital. When war broke out 1914 Elsie Inglis offered her services to her country and was told, "My good lady, go home and sit still", by the War Office. Undeterred she organised Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Foreign Service, setting up 14 medical units that served throughout Europe and Russia during the conflict, an outfit so impressive that a Serbian official remarked, "No wonder England is a great country if the women are like that".

Why campaign for more statues of women?

Wander through the streets of Edinburgh, and you could be forgiven for thinking that the only important people who lived here were men. Statues of famous and influential men litter the city centre and beyond, but of course famous and influential women also came from Edinburgh, and we think it's about time they had fair recognition for it.

The city of Edinburgh maintains two hundred statues, and so far we have identified two which are of women; an anonymous woman on Lothian Road and Queen Victoria. Edinburgh council recently commissioned a statue for outside their new headquarters, the "Everyman" statue.  According to this link, the statue is rumoured to have cost a great deal of money, and even local planners objected to yet another statue of a man in Edinburgh. We think that given that there are so many statues of men in Edinburgh, the next time the council decide to commission a statue it should be of an influential or notable woman from Edinburgh. Not only this, but the council should actively pursue and support any organisations seeking to erect statues of women in Edinburgh. We believe that this policy of actively pursuing equality of representation should continue until there are at least as many statues of women as men in our city.