

Wearing scarves in the colors of the suffragette movement that fought for female political enfranchisement, women marched through London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast in events that were part artworks, part parades.

The milestone they observed was enactment of the Representation of the People Act, which in 1918 granted property-owning British women over age 30 the right to vote. It would be another decade before women in the U.K. would have the same voting rights as men.

Sunday's celebrations were organized by arts group Artichoke, which specializes in large, participatory events. It asked 100 artists to work with women's groups on banners inspired by the bold designs of the suffragettes, who led a decades-long campaign of protest and civil disobedience to get women the vote.

The London march flowed in bands of color through the heart of the city, winding along Piccadilly and around Trafalgar Square before heading to Parliament, the seat of British political power. Some participants dressed as Edwardian suffragettes or wore sashes in green, white or violet

Brownie packs and arts groups, an organization for female ex-prisoners and the Worshipful Company of Upholders, an upholsterers' guild, were among the groups that created banners.

One woman knitted a pennant with the suffragette slogan "Deeds not words." Another came with a banner evoking the phrase that became a tool of the women's movement last year after U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren was silenced during a debate: "Nevertheless, she persisted."


Asma Shami from Lahore, Pakistan, said she rearranged her visit to Britain so she could attend the march and celebrate women's progress.

"It's so energizing," she said. "We've come a long way, and we have a long way still to go."


"A craft shop in London told us they'd run out of purple and green tassels, and they didn't know why," she said.


Gillett said she was "super proud" of her foremothers, especially since she'd always believed "women in our family aren't very outspoken or bold."

"It was quite empowering," she said.

The mood was celebratory, but Marriage said the event also was meant to highlight the work still needed, from closing the gender pay gap to ending workplace sexual harassment.

It also hoped to erase any notion of the suffragettes as prim campaigners from a more polite age. They defied the law, went on hunger strikes, broke windows and set off bombs in pursuit of their goal.

"They were really extraordinary people," Marriage said. "A thousand of them went to prison. They were force fed in prison. In today's terms, they would be described as terrorists."


The suffragettes and their legacy remain more controversial.

"They were really quite anarchic," artist Quilla Constance said while standing with a riotously colorful banner from the group Bedford Creative Arts. "They had to really fight. And we still have to fight.

"I think they're here today in spirit, and we're giving them high fives," she said.