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With International Women’s Day approaching on March 8th, we have a look at some of Salford’s most inspirational women throughout history.
Shelagh Delaney RSFL
Shelagh Delaney RSFL (25 November 1938- 20 November 2011) was a British screenwriter and dramatist who wrote ‘A Taste of Honey’ (1958), which is often referred to as “probably the most performed play by a post-war British woman playwright”. After only writing the play at 19, Delaney revolutionized post- war theater, tackling issues such as gender, class, race and sexual orientation. Originally performed in 1958, the play was premiered at Theatre Royal Stratford East, before being made into a film in 1961.
Following on from this, Delaney was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and made radio and television plays up until 2010.
Her image has also been used on The Smiths’ album ‘Louder than Bombs’ (1987), with front man Morrisey drawing great inspiration from the playwright.
She also has a building named after her at Salford University’s Campus Living Village.
Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst needs no introduction. A co-founder and highly visible member of the Suffragette movement in the early 20th Century, Pankhurst was born in Moss Side, within the hundred of Salford.
Pankhurst helped revolutionize and shape our modern democracy. Fighting against the patriarchy of the time and helping grant women the right to vote, Pankhurst is one of the great feminist icons in recent memory.
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Wendy Tan-White
Born in Salford in 1970, Wendy Tan-White is the Vice President at X, Alphabet’s Moonshots company. White is perhaps most well-known for starting the world’s first cloud-based website builder, Moonfruit.
During the Dotcom crash of 2000 Moonfruit had to downsize from its initial employee count of 6 to just 2, including Tan-White. Despite this, Moonfruit later went on to be sold for £23 Million.
Tan-White is also a huge proponent of women entering the tech sphere. She introduced Moonfruit’s policy of accommodating new mothers at work, with later start times to fit around school runs and flexi-home working.
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