International Women’s Day Fri 8 Mar: Wollstonecraft Memorial Fundraisers

Friday 8th is International Women’s Day. There are several events running locally raising funds for a memorial to Mary Wollstonecraft at Newington Green. This campaign is called Mary on the Green. Mary was a regular at the progressive Unitarian Chapel (just inside the Hackney border today). She was the ‘founder of modern feminism’ (ie equal rights an even more controversial issue in the 1790s) who set up a school there and hung out with other radicals of the time in an alternative community linked to events as seismic as the American Revolution. We’ve got statues to every kind of general it seems in the West End but nothing to mark MW’s contribution to an issue that directly affects half the planet and indirectly affects the other half. She took on the intellectual big boys of the time and caused all sorts of controversy by suggesting women might have the same rights as men. This Sat in Stokey there is a historical tour which includes a brief tour of the chapel by a Wollstonecraft expert and an Alexander Technique workshop. And there’s even a boot camp on Fri at 12.30pm from London Fields Fitness Studio – all raising funds for the campaign. The Unitarian Church are also having events at Upper Street for IWD. Please do come and spread the word. Thanks! Here’s the link to find out more.”