YOU’D never guess the population of Manchester was about 50% female by looking at the statues and artworks on the city streets. 

There are more than 25 named males in the streets and squares and on buildings, in contrast to a pair of old Queens

Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth I aside, it’s all men apart from symbolic ladies summing up abstractions such as motherhood, the arts and charity. And then invariably their tops have fallen open and they’re baring their breasts. Honestly those Victorians and their repressed erotic desires. 

A stroll around the city centre will reveal more than 25 named males in the streets and squares and on buildings, in contrast to the pair of old Queens – and that’s without counting all the St Georges. Indeed if you include the sheep sculpture in Castlefield, herbivores are doing nearly as well as the ladies. 

Some sort of balance is achieved with residences. There are two domestic houses in Manchester dedicated to women and none to men, the Gaskell House and the Pankhurst Centre. 2-0 to the girls. 

A symbolic mum in PiccadillyA symbolic mum in Piccadilly

Putting that aside, to correct the sculptural anomaly a campaign has come together called the WoManchester Statue Project. This is the aim: ‘The project is about celebrating the significant role that women have played in Manchester. We plan to unveil a new statue of a woman significant to Manchester to help address this inequality (in the disparity between the representation of men and women).’ 

A long list will be announced on Thursday 28 May with twenty names. The campaign is in association with Forever Manchester and donations can be raised from Just Giving here. 

The inequality of representation is real but whether figurative sculpture is relevant in 2015 might have to be considered. The last such work on a Manchester street was the Deansgate sculpture of Polish-artist Chopin and it is truly dreadful. 

Still, a stature would help underline the feminine origins of the city’s name. Manchester’s moniker was given by the Romans and has precious little to do with the male of the species. It was Mamucium which means ‘breast shaped hill’. Maybe those repressed Victorians were on to something after all.