Seven-of Britain’s most influential women have been brought together for a Vogue photoshoot to celebrate the country’s new “suffragists”.
To mark the centenary of women winning the right to vote, politicians, artists and writers setting the agenda in public life will feature in February’s edition of the fashion bible.
Labour MP Stella Creasy is prominent among the group, following her acclaimed work on sexual harassment and her successful campaign last year for women in Northern Ireland to have free abortions in England.
She told the magazine: “I’m the anti-Sheryl Sandberg. For me, it’s not about leaning in, it’s about building an army. Progress can happen. My mistake was thinking that it would be easy … But I’m impatient to change the world.”
Turner prize winner Gillian Wearing, whose statue of suffragist Millicent Fawcett will be unveiled in Parliament Square this year, said there were still challenges for women:
“Fawcett was all about dialogue. And it worked — she spent six decades getting women the vote. But it took a lot of work! Now Maria Balshaw is running the Tate, things should change further. The hard thing today is overcoming the psychology — this prejudice goes deep. We need to change people’s inner stereotypes of women. And, that’s harder than fighting for the vote.”
The February magazine is the third edition for new editor Edward Enninful. Dutch photographer Julia Hetta shot the images, which were designed to capture the brilliance of the country’s female changemakers.
Dressed in striking black and white, the women include Liv Little, founder of the gal-dem
website, Women’s Equality Party leader Sophie Walker, campaigner and journalist Paris Lees, blogger Dina Torkia and Reni Eddo-Lodge, the author of Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race.
See the full interviews in the February issue of Vogue, on sale tomorrow
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