A MASS march through the centre of Edinburgh, to mark the 100 years since the first British women got the right to vote, is to take place in June.
The event, called Processions Edinburgh, one of four mass marches that will take place on June 10, has now been backed by £160,000 in public money, and women and girls are being invited to sign up the event.
In the march, participants will be given scarves to wear in either green, white or violet - the colours of the Suffragettes, who campaigned for the right of women to vote – and will be choreographed "so that together they appear as a vast river of colour flowing through the city centre."
They will carry banners made in the run up to the event, which is being replicated in Cardiff, Belfast and London.
All four funding bodies in Scotland - the Scottish Government's Centenary Fund, Event Scotland, the Edinburgh council and Creative Scotland - are producing their own banners to carry on the day.
The event is being produced by arts charity Artichoke and has been commissioned by 14-18 Now, the arts programme for the First World War centenary.
Scottish Government’s Centenary Fund has given £50,000, Event Scotland also has given £50,000, Creative Scotland also has funded it with £50,000 and the City of Edinburgh Council has given £10,000.
Councillor Amy McNeese-Mechan at the City of Edinburgh Council, said: "Together, we will commemorate the incredible perseverance and bravery of those women who fought for the right to vote and marched through the city’s streets 100 years ago.
"It will be a chance for us to reflect on how far we’ve come and what’s still left to fight for, and I hope to see people of all ages from all walks of life and nationalities take part.
“You can just imagine how incredible it will be to see a flowing river of people in green, white and violet processing through Edinburgh and what an amazing atmosphere it will create.
"This is the type of event people will look back on with pride in the future and say, ‘I was there’.”
Angela Constance, the equalities secretary, said: "This is part of the celebrations to mark the centenary of women’s suffrage and while we have come a long way since 1918, much still needs to be done if we are to eradicate gender inequality and create a fairer and more prosperous country."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here