Q&A with Dr Helen Pankhurst

Dr Helen Pankhurst is the great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and the granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst.  A women’s rights activist and senior advisor to CARE International, she is also a visiting Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Helen’s support was crucial to the making of BBC documentary Emmeline Pankhurst: The Making of a Militant from the very beginning.  Not only sharing her insights into her famous ancestors’ stories in her interview on screen but also supporting the whole film from its initial pitching stage with a passion to ensure the story is told to a wider audience.

Helen’s support has been crucial to the making of Emmeline Pankhurst: The Making of a Militant from the very beginning.  Not only sharing her insights into her famous ancestors’ stories in her interview on screen but also supporting the whole film from its initial pitching stage with a passion to ensure the story is told to a wider audience.

Helen’s book, Deeds Not Words: The Story of Women’s Rights, Then and Now was published earlier this year to coincide with the centenary of some women getting the vote in 1918.

Everybody knows of Emmeline Pankhurst the global icon – prior to this documentary why do you think so little is known generally about her personal story?

There is so much to cover when you look at the history of suffrage of which the suffragette story is but one aspect. It is however such a compelling one that it has received much attention but there is so much to tell that there is little time to delve into the stories behind any of the players.  In the Pankhurst case this is made even more complicated by the fact that there are so many that were involved. 

How important do you think it is to tell a more personal story of Emmeline in this documentary - and how she became a militant activist?

Telling the more personal story behind Emmeline’s trajectory to militancy is important.  It adds to a better understanding of the whole. 

With your new book you look at how far we have come since some women gained the vote in 1918 - do you think the struggles they faced then have been forgotten and is it particularly important to tell these stories now?

Stories of the past need to be told and we need more that have a female lens. My book Deeds Not Words, The Story of Women’s Rights, Then and Now provides a summary of the journey over the centenary since 1918 and is a tool for individual and group reflection around the question of continuity and change in women’s lives. It is also about encouraging people to look deeply at the costs of gender inequality and to engage in a commitment to change. I’m convinced that our great-grandmothers and grandmothers would be chivvying us on, saying keep it, there is till work to be done.

How do you feel about keeping Emmeline's story going as a Pankhurst yourself?

Very proud.  The legacy still resonates and needs to because we are not there yet.

The 'hashtag' for the programme on social media is going to be 'Be More Emmeline' - what do you hope people will take away from Emmeline Pankhurst: The Making of a Militant and from her story?

I hope they are energised, see the role model around courage, determination, resilience, a fierce and uncompromising commitment to women’s rights. I also hope they take away a sense that individuals make a difference and that it is solidarity and joint commitment that achieves change. 

Dr Helen Pankhurst discusses Emmeline Pankhurst: Making of a Militant. Supported by Marketing Manchester, this documentary is part of the #RadicalManchester campaign marking the city's role in the centenary of votes for women. A premiere took place at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester hotel.