Bradford: Blue plaque unveiled for women's rights campaigner
The plaque - the twelfth of its kind in the city - was due to be unveiled in the same location on Kirkgate as its original on Friday morning.The plaque will be unveiled by a representative from the West Yorkshire Pension Fund.Born in Bradford in 1866, Ms White went on to become secretary of the South Bradford Liberal Party.Dr Lauren Padgett, assistant collections curator at Bradford Museums and Galleries, described her as a "committed women's rights and pension campaigner".According to Dr Padgett, Ms White, who was never married, held an inaugural meeting which resulted in the founding of the National Spinsters' Pensions Association at the old Mechanics' Institute on Bridge Street in April 1935."As Secretary for the South Bradford Liberal Party, her eyes were opened to the impoverished plight and financial precarity of unmarried older Bradford women."They faced fewer and lower paid job opportunities and were often unpaid carers for others. The few that could make health insurance contributions often died before they could receive their benefit of a pension at the age of 65."After several years of campaigning, the government lowered the pensionable age for all women to 60 in 1940.Mr Cunningham said the pension reform "was probably a pre-cursor to a lot of the privileges enjoyed by many women today".
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The Independent
3 days ago
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