About us - Our mission

In 2016, a group of women working in Cardiff got together to do something about the fact that there was not one single statue in the whole of Wales of a ‘real’ Welsh woman.  Despite the amazing contribution of Welsh women to life in Wales, their achievements had not been celebrated in the way that men’s successes often have – by being immortalised, commemorated and celebrated with public statues.

At that first meeting, Monumental Welsh Women was born, with the initial intention of trying to get just one statue of a historical woman erected in Cardiff.  At the time, Cardiff was undergoing a dramatic redevelopment around the old bus station. We persuaded Cardiff Council that the area around the new Central Square would be the perfect place for a statue. But not just any statue – the first statue of a historical Welsh woman, an artwork that would be world class, and a city landmark that everyone who visited Cardiff would want their ‘selfie’ in front of.

The next challenge was how to choose the woman to be celebrated.  We worked with Women’s Equality Network Wales to draw up a list of 100 Welsh women to celebrate the centenary of women getting the vote in 1918 – 50 contemporary women and 50 historical women, all of whom were celebrated at an event in the Senedd in 2018.

From that list of 50 historical women, we worked with a panel of experts to shortlist 5 women who we thought best illustrated the breadth and depth of the achievements of Welsh women over the centuries.  And then, working with the BBC, we put those 5 women to a public vote. The BBC produced and broadcast a series of short films on the lives of the 5 women and asked the public to choose their favourite.  The winner was announced in January 2019. 

But we then decided that one statue was simply not enough.  The public response to the vote was fantastic and many people called for all 5 women to be commemorated.  And so we set ourselves a challenge: to erect 5 statues commemorating  the 5 amazing Welsh women on the shortlist, in 5 locations around Wales in just 5 years. 

Each project was completely different - working with the communities in each place to find the perfect location, the right artist, a design that reflected each woman's story and achievements and - of course - to raise the money needed.  It has been an absolute joy to

In 2016, a group of women working in Cardiff got together to do something about the fact that there was not one single statue in the whole of Wales of a ‘real’ Welsh woman.  Despite the amazing contribution of Welsh women to life in Wales, their achievements had not been celebrated in the way that men’s successes often have – by being immortalised, commemorated and celebrated with public statues.

At that first meeting, Monumental Welsh Women was born, with the initial intention of trying to get just one statue of a historical woman erected in Cardiff.  At the time, Cardiff was undergoing a dramatic redevelopment around the old bus station. We persuaded Cardiff Council that the area around the new Central Square would be the perfect place for a statue. But not just any statue – the first statue of a historical Welsh woman, an artwork that would be world class, and a city landmark that everyone who visited Cardiff would want their ‘selfie’ in front of.

The next challenge was how to choose the woman to be celebrated.  We worked with Women’s Equality Network Wales to draw up a list of 100 Welsh women to celebrate the centenary of women getting the vote in 1918 – 50 contemporary women and 50 historical women, all of whom were celebrated at an event in the Senedd in 2018.

From that list of 50 historical women, we worked with a panel of experts to shortlist 5 women who we thought best illustrated the breadth and depth of the achievements of Welsh women over the centuries.  And then, working with the BBC, we put those 5 women to a public vote. The BBC produced and broadcast a series of short films on the lives of the 5 women and asked the public to choose their favourite.  The winner was announced in January 2019. 

But we then decided that one statue was simply not enough.  The public response to the vote was fantastic and many people called for all 5 women to be commemorated.  And so we set ourselves a challenge: to erect 5 statues commemorating  the 5 amazing Welsh women on the shortlist, in 5 locations around Wales in just 5 years. 

Each project was completely different - working with the communities in each place to find the perfect location, the right artist, a design that reflected each woman's story and achievements and - of course - to raise the money needed.  Click below for the story of each statue.