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Abstract

The unveiling of a statue honouring 18th-century feminist Mary Wollstonecraft – 10 years after the campaign to erect the monument began – has led to sharply divided opinions.

Organisers of the project in Newington Green selected a 10ft design by artist Maggi Hambling, finally unveiled on Tuesday. She is also known for a sculpture near Trafalgar Square of Oscar Wilde. Currently, only one in 10 statues in London is of a woman.

Ms Hambling said the silver sculpture, topped with a figurine of a naked woman, depicts an “everywoman”.

The plinth features Wollstonecraft’s words: “I do not wish women to have power over men but over themselves.”

It was selected by the “Mary on the Green” campaign committee from a shortlist of designs. A public con­sultation was then held before Ms Hambling’s piece was chosen.

Critics of the statue who took to social media included How to Be a Woman writer and columnist Caitlin Moran who asked why statues of well-known male figures have not been celebrated with nudity.

And children’s writer Malorie Blackman tweeted: “Genuine question: Why present Mary Wollstonecraft as naked? I’ve seen many statues of male writers, rights activists and philosophers and I can’t remember any of them being bare-assed.”

Protesters gathered at the statue the day after the unveiling, with one placing a black T-shirt over the figurine and another covering it with a knitted jumper. A placard read: “Where are my clothes?”

But Mary on the Green campaign chairwoman Bee Rowlatt, who has written a biography of Wollstonecraft, said: “The mistake that people are making is that it is a statue for Mary Wollstonecraft, and it is not a statue of Mary Wollstonecraft. Those are not her breasts.”

She added: “Maggi Hambling works in a very pioneering way.

“My understanding of this work of art is that it marks a complete break from the Victorian tradition of individuals on pedestals. It is something completely different and far more collaborative.

“It is a very hard thing to represent. How do you portray a birth of the movement of universal human rights? That is a very hard thing to do and personally I think she has done it. I appreciate that not everybody does.”

Newington Green councillor Jenny Kay said: “A lot of people have heard of both Mary Wollstonecraft’s work and Newington Green for the first time today. And that is a great thing. Unlike other controversial mem­orials, the more they read about Mary’s work the more they’ll appreciate what an incredible thinker she was.”

Wollstonecraft, who wrote the groundbreaking 'A Vindication of the Rights of Women', attended services at the Newington Green Meeting House and set up a school for women’s education, now Newington Green School.