Your Chance To Hear Two Incredibly Inspirational Campaigners In Conversation

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Your Chance To Hear Two Incredibly Inspirational Campaigners In Conversation

This article is sponsored by Bishopsgate Institute.

See Paris Lees behind the mic. Credit: Elainea Emmott from the 2018 Women's March

Paris Lees is an award-winning writer, presenter and anti-bullying campaigner who became the first openly transgender person to appear on Question Time.

Paris Lees:

At a time when it often feels like the world is going backwards and people's rights are under threat, the suffrage centenary is both a reminder how far we've come but also how fragile freedom is.

Change is possible but we can’t take anything for granted — rights don’t get handed out on a plate, throughout history people have had to fight — to die — for their rights.

Phyll Opoku-Gyimah is co-founder and Executive Director of UK Black Pride, and a prominent LGBT+ activist.

Together — on 13 March — they're in conversation at Bishopsgate Institute, east London. They'll be marking the centenary of the Representation of the People Act 1918, the act that gave some UK women the right to vote.

Phyll Opoku-Gyimah. Image: Ajamu X

Phyll Opoku-Gyimah:

The suffrage centenary is a wonderful milestone to celebrate, but it's important to remember that it was only just over 40% of women who actually became enfranchised, many of whom were white and part of the middle and upper classes.

I support the many women who are coming forward to tell their stories, but I'm also acutely aware of those who are unable to tell their stories.

Hear both of these vital commentators share their wisdom and stories, at Bishopsgate Institute, which  they have praised for being "such a positive space to be in", and a place that "celebrates the long history of struggle for rights in this country".

They'll discuss their influences through history, their own struggles for representation, their fears for the future — and their hopes for a juster society. All through the lens of a century of votes for women.

Paris Lees in Conversation with Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, Bishopsgate Institute, near Liverpool Street, 13 March 2018, 7pm. Tickets £7 (£5 concessions).

Part of Bishopsgate Institute's Women & Activism season — a series of series of talks with inspirational campaigners, archives tours and courses.  

Last Updated 05 March 2018