Women in politics have played an important role in enacting positive change - Rachel Reeves

Their names sit alongside hundreds of other women, some of whom might be less well known but have quietly dedicated their lives and given so much back to our community over the years: from suffragettes to charity workers, social entrepreneurs to business leaders, and local councillors to health workers.

Launching the statue, Pippa spoke about being ‘humbled’ by the stories: ‘from women who have broken glass ceilings and overcome cultural, social, economic and physical barriers to rise to the top of their professions, to those who fly beneath the radar and whose contribution is neither seen nor recognised publicly.’

I was so incredibly proud to play a part in launching the project and I was so moved to see it brought to fruition.

It has been wonderful to see the names of those individual struggles and accomplishments represented in this way, and I hope that for decades to come it will stand as an example of inclusion and progress for future generations.

Every day as a Member of Parliament, I am humbled by the things women achieve – as leaders, entrepreneurs, public servants, artists and politicians.

Since I was elected to represent Leeds West, fourteen years ago this week, I have always tried to champion the stories of women who have played a part in our community – including of course Alice Bacon, the only woman to represent the city of Leeds in Parliament before me.

The daughter of a miner, raised in Normanton, Alice went on to be a pioneering Home Office and Education minister, playing her part in the greatest reforms of the Labour governments of the 1960s: the establishment of comprehensive schools, the abolition of the death penalty, and the decriminalisation of male homosexuality and abortion.

Since 2018, the University of Leeds has held an annual Alice Bacon Memorial Lecture, with leading women being invited to reflect on the question of women and power.

Previous speakers have included my colleague the former deputy leader of the Labour Party Harriet Harman, the classicist Mary Beard and the campaigner Doreen Lawrence who has fought tirelessly for justice for her son Stephen since he was murdered in 1993.

I strongly believe that we should do what we can to celebrate the contribution of women, to all our communities, our region, and our country. It is one of the drivers behind my politics.

Partly it is about fairness and making sure that women who too often do important work without recognition are not overlooked. It is about making sure that young women and girls growing up today know that they need not place any ceiling on their ambitions, for themselves, for their friends and family, or for their communities.

And it is about making sure that women’s voices are heard and represented at every level of our society.

I have spent a career working in politics and in economics. That means I have had to get used to spending a lot of time in rooms that do not always reflect ordinary life.

No woman has ever served as governor of the Bank of England, or Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, or Chancellor of the Exchequer – though I am doing my level best to change that.

Representation matters because it is fundamentally unfair if large parts of the population are shut out of power and opportunity because of their gender, their ethnicity or their class. But it matters beyond that because who is making decisions shapes their assumptions.

For instance, women bore the brunt of government cuts from 2010, and were worst hit by the social and economic impact of the pandemic too.

Women are still worst affected by low pay, in-work insecurity, and our struggling childcare and social care sectors.

More than 50 years after another great Labour woman, Barbara Castle, secured the passage of the Equal Pay Act, the average woman still earns 15 percent less than the typical man. On current trends, the gender pay gap will be with us for another two decades until 2044.

Whenever progress has been achieved for women, it has always been driven by women – from fair pay to the right to choose, from action on domestic violence to Sure Start.

We saw that with the last Labour government. Harriet Harman, Tessa Jowell, Mo Mowlan, Margaret Beckett, Yvette Cooper and many, many more. Women who led from the top to deliver extraordinary change for millions of women across Britain and inspired the next generation to follow in their footsteps.

If I have the privilege to serve as Chancellor of the Exchequer, I will take inspiration from those who have gone before me.

And if, in years to come, our city is stronger, fairer and more prosperous, then I am sure there will be many more names that belong on more ribbons.

Rachel Reeves is the Labour Member of Parliament for Leeds West and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.