10 modern day feminist icons you need to know about from Carey Mulligan to Tina Brown

Fiercely intelligent, funny and up for a fight, they’re battling gender inequality in the capital. From the British actress calling out Hollywood misogyny to the anti-FGM campaigner, Kate Wills introduces ten contemporary crusaders you need to know about
Carey Mulligan in Sufragette
Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar
Kate Wills1 October 2015

The A-list Activist

Carey Mulligan

As laundry worker Maud Watts in Suffragette, Carey Mulligan plays a foot soldier of early feminism. But getting this story to the big screen has been a struggle. ‘I think we have a sexist film industry, and stories about women are largely untold,’ said Mulligan recently. ‘I think a lot of people decided that it [Suffragette] wasn’t financially viable.’ The Oscar-nominated A-lister is unafraid to throw her star power behind the cause. ‘I feel confident talking about feminism. It’s become a slightly taboo, dirty word in the Western world and people feel nervous about using it... but I’d happily describe myself as a feminist.’ F-word-averse stars, take note.

The Westminster Warrior

Mhairi Black

Among the braying ‘hear, hears’ and straight white males, Mhairi Black, 21, is less a breath of fresh air and more a blast of cold north wind. In her maiden speech, watched more than 10m times on YouTube, she laid into George Osborne, quipping that she was the only 20-year-old in the UK he was helping with housing. Not only is the SNP MP for Paisley & Renfrewshire South the ‘baby of the house’, she’s also one of only 191 women and only 32 LGBT MPs. Even better, she has tweeted that ‘Smirnoff Ice is the drink of gods’. Forget Farage, Black is the MP we want to go to the pub with.

Mhairie Black

The Art Agitator

Phoebe Collings-James

Don’t write off Phoebe Collings-James as another model/artist. The 27-year-old makes work that challenges perceptions of race, sexuality and feminism. Her recent show in London, titled The Flesh Is All You Have If You Mortify That There Is No Hope For You, gives an indication of why she gave up the catwalk. ‘I was forming ideas about feminism, and it conflicted with what I experienced as a model,’ she says. Now Collings-James blogs about feminism and exhibits her paintings, sculptures and films in galleries around the world. ‘[Art] is still a bit of a boys’ club and anyone who is young, female and at all desirable-looking is going to be passed over for not being serious,’ she says. ‘I think you have to let the work prove people wrong.’

Phoebe Collings James

The Game Changer

Catherine Mayer

There can’t be many political movements that began over beers at the Southbank Centre, but journalist Catherine Mayer, 49, was at the Women of the World Festival in March when inspiration struck. ‘I said, “Let’s form a women’s party and see what happens. I’ll be in the bar if anyone wants to discuss it,” ’ she recalls. Sandi Toksvig quit Radio 4 to co-found the movement, and campaigner Sophie Walker is in charge until a leader is elected. The Women’s Equality Party now has thousands of members, 41 branches around the UK. Proof that the best ideas occur under the influence.

Catherine Mayer

The Trans Icon

Munroe Bergoorf

Today, Munroe Bergdorf, 27, is a glamazonian model, DJ, and fashion designer, but growing up in rural Hertfordshire as a boy called Ian wasn’t much fun. ‘Everyone was whiter than white and I was the incredibly effeminate mixed-race kid at an all-boys school specialising in rugby.’ Bergdorf began taking female hormones in her early twenties. Now she’s friends with Grace Jones and has become a trans role model. Although the likes of Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox have shone a spotlight on the ‘T’ in LGBT, Bergdorf still finds it tough. A recent study found that 48 per cent of trans people under 26 have attempted suicide. ‘Each of us is fighting a battle — with ourselves — all the time: “Do I look feminine enough?’’ ’ she says. ‘I want people to know that it’s OK to be different.’

Munroe Bergoorf

The Voice of Youth

Megan Beech

‘I’ve got 99 problems and a misogynistic vocabulary is one,’ spits Megan Beech in the rap that helped her win The Poetry Society’s SLAMbassador contest in 2012 (YouTube it). When she’s not repurposing Jay Z to call out the patriarchy, the 21-year-old studies English at King’s College London and writes poetry. Her first collection was called When I Grow Up I Want To Be Mary Beard. Unsurprisingly, the TV classicist loves Beech right back; as does Laura Bates, founder of website The EveryDay Sexism Project, who called her ‘one of the powerful voices of young feminism today’.

Celebrity feminists - in pictures

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The Pop Pioneer

Lauren Mayberry

While other female pop stars are busy having spats about who’s to blame for sexism in the music industry (Taylor, Nicki, we’re looking at you), Lauren Mayberry, 27, of synthpop trio Chvrches is tackling the misogynists head on. She often exposes the abuse she’s received for, ooh, daring to be in a band, recently retweeting a particularly vile 4chan thread with: ‘Dear anyone who thinks misogyny isn’t real. It is and this is what it looks like.’ Meanwhile, her feminist collective TYCI (Tuck Your C*** In) promotes female artists, and she’s told her trolls on Instagram to ‘Bring it on, motherf***ers.’ If only there was an emoji for that.

Lauren Mayberry

The FGM Crusader

Nimco Ali

Before 32-year-old FGM survivor Nimco Ali spoke to the Evening Standard about her experiences, few knew that an estimated 20,000 girls in this country aged 16 and under are at risk of being mutilated. Ali was living in Manchester and was just seven when what she thought was a family holiday in Somalia ended with her being ‘cut’. After going public in 2013, Ali, faced death threats and lost touch with friends and family. But thanks to her bold protests — including demonstrating in a ‘fanny suit’ — and the charity she co-founded in 2010, Daughters of Eve, female genital mutilation has gone from a cultural taboo to a key part of the news agenda.

The Media Mogul

Tina Brown

Tina Brown, queen of celebrity networking, is harnessing her stellar contacts for the feminist cause. The 61-year-old who persuaded a pregnant Demi Moore to pose naked on the cover of Vanity Fair (back when ‘Call Me Caitlyn’ was still a twinkle in Graydon Carter’s eye) is now building a roving global conference to rival Davos or TED. Women in the World, which comes to London on 8 October, brings together activist and celebrity speakers (last year’s New York event saw Hillary Clinton pose for selfies with Pussy Riot). The line-up for the London summit includes a long list of strong women including Liberian Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee; Yeonmi Park, the 21-year-old defector from North Korea, Meryl Streep and Nicola Sturgeon.

Tina Brown

The Honourable Member

Nick Clegg

As Emma Watson pointed out in her HeForShe campaign, the battle for gender equality won’t be won without men. Thumbs up, then, to Andy Murray, who declared himself a feminist after his coach Amélie Mauresmo was criticised every time he took a thrashing, as well as Tom Hiddleston, for baring (nearly all) in the name of equality. ‘In movies women are naked more often than men and that’s unfair,’ he said of appearing nude in his new film Crimson Peak. ‘We wanted to redress the balance.’ But the biggest F-props go to Nick Clegg, 48, for pushing through shared parental leave laws and mandatory pay audits, meaning companies will be forced to disclose potential pay gaps. Who could doubt Clegg’s feminist credentials with Miriam González Durántez in his corner? When asked who wears the trousers at home, Nick said, ‘I think we share the trousers.’ It’s OK Nick, we know it’s really Miriam.

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