The statue was created following a five-year project called the WoManchester Statue campaign. This was led by Manchester City Councillor Andrew Simcock. He had initiated the campaign following a meeting in March 2014 with his friend Anne-Marie Glennon in the Sculpture Hall in Manchester Town Hall. Over coffee she had commented "these are all men. Where are the women!" Simcock’s campaign was also partly inspired by a craftivism exhibition held at Manchester Town Hall during February and March 2014. Frustrated by the gender imbalance in Manchester's civic statues, artists Warp and Weft had yarnbombed eight male portrait busts with crochet masks depicting local historical women of achievement. Councillor Simcock invited Warp and Weft to restage their exhibition on 30 July 2014, the dayManchester City Council gave its unanimous backing to his resolution that a 'statue of a woman of significance to Manchester' be created. Initially a twenty-strong list of women was compiled for consideration for the statue. In June 2015 Councillor Simcock cycled from Lands End to John O'Groats in twenty stages, each one devoted to one of the women on the list. A shortlist was created in the autumn of 2015 and Emmeline Pankhurst was decisively selected following a vote by thousands of people across the world. and descendant Helen Pankhurst at the unveiling The unveiling was attended by 6,000 people including many who had marched from the Pankhurst Centre near Manchester Royal Infirmary. It was here, as the then home of the Pankhurst family, that the Women's Social and Political Union had been formed. The event marked exactly 100 years since the first women voted and stood as candidates in a general election. Two marches started from two symbolic locations – the People's History Museum and the Pankhurst Centre – ending up at St Peter's Square, which was attended by 6,000 people including 1,000 local schoolchildren. In July 2018, the Portland stone Pankhurst Meeting Circle, was unveiled, designed to encircle the bronze Emmeline. The statue was funded by corporate sponsors Manchester Airport Group and Property Alliance Group and from the sale of a limited number of bronze maquettes of the statue. A significant donation also came from the Government's Centenary Fund.
''First In the Fight''
In November 2019 a book was published chronicling the history of the WoManchester Statue Campaign and the twenty women on the original long list for consideration. First in the Fight by Helen Antrobus and Andrew Simcock contains essays on all twenty women plus the history of the campaign.
Maintenance of the statue
The WoManchester Statue campaign specifically set out to raise money covering the maintenance of the statue.
