Our guest speaker for May was Margaret Williams, Coordinator of the Hampshire and IOW Fawcett Society. She explained that the group don’t have meetings but get together online as they are widely spread. They campaign on issues of misogyny and equality.
The Fawcett Society is named after suffragist Millicent Fawcett. A statue of Millicent was unveiled in Parliament Square in 2018, 100 years after women achieved the vote. It was the first statue honouring a women in that famous place. Millicent has a tenuous link to Salisbury, by marrying Henry Fawcett, renowned reformer, who was born in the city. He had proposed to her sister, Elizabeth Garrett, who refused him and went on to become the first woman doctor.
The Fawcett Society is open to men and women. Members collaborate to campaign on topics such as equal pay and pensions, calling out misogynistic comments and empowering women. They ran a campaign in Portsmouth against a bar which opened with the theme of Jack the Ripper. They did manage to persuade the owners not to show exclusively JtR films but the street signage was not removed. Ultimately the bar closed anyway.
If you would like to know more, you can access their website or access Margaret’s slide presentation Fawcett Society Slides May 2026.