Nadine Dorries backs statue celebrating Aphra Behn saying women owe writer 'debt of gratitude'

Virginia Woolf said all women owed a debt to Aphra Behn because she “earned them the right to speak their minds”, but more than 300 years after her death, the first professional female writer in English has no memorial to mark her achievements.

Now the Culture Secretary has backed MPs and historians in calling for the 17th century playwright to be given a statue as a step towards correcting male bias in public art.

Nadine Dorries told The Telegraph: “Aphra Behn paved the way for female writers everywhere - myself included. She had the guts to speak her mind, and the daring to write about subjects traditionally considered ‘male only’.”

Ms Dorries, herself a published author, said: “She broke new territory for us all, and any woman looking to make their profession in the world of writing owes her a debt of gratitude.”

Famed for the sexually explicit nature of her writing at a time when women were only considered attractive if they were demure, Behn “valued wit over virtue” and used her literary prowess to make a living by her pen at a time when only men did so.

In a bid to grant Behn the “celebration that has been denied to her for centuries” the charity ‘A is for Aphra’ teamed up with the Canterbury Commemoration Society to launch a campaign to create a statue of the novelist, poet and playwright.

Four artists in the running to create bronze statue

Since launching the challenge last year, four artists have now been shortlisted as the potential sculptors of the bronze statue.

The artists are now in the process of casting a 50cm high bronze maquette of their design which will be presented to the public this summer.

The designs range from an anonymous looking woman sitting on a pile of books, to another figure of a woman standing and lifting her skirt to reveal words underneath, symbolic of how at the time women could not openly show their desire to write.

The winning design will be made into a full-sized statue that will be erected in Behn’s hometown of Canterbury, Kent by next summer.

'We need to make up for three centuries of neglect'

Caroline Nokes, the Conservative chairperson of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, said: “Women are too little recognised in public art, particularly statues.”

Ms Nokes said that while in recent years there have been “brilliant campaigns” to get more women immortalised in bronze, such as the statue of Suffragist leader Millicent Fawcett in 2018 - the first statue of a woman erected in Parliament Square - more needed to be done in this area to ensure the achievements of women over the centuries do not go unmarked.

“This initiative is one that can bring a prominent trailblazing woman to more prominence and I'm really looking forward to seeing the statue,” Ms Nokes added.

“It is so important we recognise the contribution women have made to public life in all sorts of professions.”

Rosie Duffield, the Labour MP for Canterbury, who was involved in the shortlisting process, said she was “thrilled that such an inspirational woman came from Canterbury”, adding: “We need to make up for three centuries of neglect by making a lot of noise about her”.

On being shortlisted, Victoria Atkinson, whose design ‘Astrea’ aims to show Behn’s many personas and her strength of character and resilience, said: “As a woman, I’m aware of some of the prejudices and obstacles Aphra had to face and can only marvel at the way she used what means she had to survive and flourish in a man’s world. For too many women life hasn’t changed so very much in 350 years.”

Charlotte Cornell, who has headed up the campaign, urged that the statue not be seen as “a feminist occupation of a public space”.

“Instead, it is a correction of a terrible omission: women across centuries have well-deserved places being commemorated in the public sphere, yet for too long (unless they were Royal) it has denied them,” she said.

“If you achieve something fantastic, you should be celebrated: hopefully nowadays we are excited about commemorating our daughters just as much as our sons.”