Helen Pankhurst, great-granddaughter of Suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, took to the stage at Hay with an optimistic message.
“I have had the Pankhurst surname all of my life. I have been fighting for gender issues all of my life. But it is only recently that I have been given a platform and a voice. Something very special is happening right now” she said.
The women’s right campaigner urged the audience to work together to challenge the “dinosaurs" holding equality back.
“I often get asked why it took so long for women to get the vote in the first place and one of the reasons, I answer, is one or two dinosaurs. In particular Prime Minister Asquith who delayed things despite the majority of Members of Parliament in 1918 being in favour."
"Today, globally, we have more dinosaurs than ever trying to hold us back. But we also have got something fabulous going on. People are getting more and more educated and engaged on equality. The size of this audience at Hay is testament to the fact that this stuff matters.”
If you missed this, you might like to go to
event 21 at 7pm tonight, about the radical Suffragette Kitty Marion - activist and arsonist.