For International Women’s Day, the Tube has welcomed a few colourful arrivals.
International Women’s Day may be over for another year, but the fight for true equality continues apace. TfL’s recent intervention provides a nod to the long-standing fight for equal rights and the tearing down of institutionalised patriarchy, as they’ve give five Tube stations some International Women’s Day-inspired Tube roundels. Check ’em out! (Featured image: Eleanor Hart, via Twitter)
Best start to my morning seeing this at Maida Vale tube 👏🏽👏🏼👏🏾👏🏿#EachforEqual #IWD2020 @TfL pic.twitter.com/pbF2x2cByN
— Ellie Hart (@EleanorHart_) March 6, 2020
The roundels have appeared at five Tube stations, each with some connection to the ladies of both London and the Underground. The female connections at Seven Sisters and Victoria are both pretty apparent, by there’s a chance to dive into the herstory of the Tube with the likes of Upton Park – the station at which Hannah Dadds became London’s first female Tube driver – and Covent Garden, where Susan Atyeo became the first female signaller.
Maida Vale, meanwhile, gets a commemorative roundel because it was entirely staffed by women during World War I, becoming the first station on the network to do so. Each roundel is highlighted with white, green, and purple – now famed as the colours of the sufragette movement – and depicts a trio of women bonded by solidarity.
Nice little surprise this morning at Upton Park station, thanks @TfL !#InternationalWomenDay2020 pic.twitter.com/zfs0q5eGmT
— Kirsten Amor (@amorexplore) March 8, 2020
As a further celebration of International Women’s Day, TfL have set up photo exhibitions at Victoria Tube, bus, and coach stations, depicted the variety of roles women have taken within TfL. They, along with the roundels, aren’t expected to be around for long, but surely I can’t be the only one who’d like to see them remain more permanently?