In 1945, British Labour Party politician Herbert Morrison thanked the men who worked on the project.
“The men who built Waterloo Bridge are fortunate men. They know that, although their names may be forgotten, their work will be a pride and use to London for many generations to come. To the hundreds of workers in stone, in steel, in timber, in concrete the new bridge is a monument to their skill and craftsmanship.”
It’s a classic bit of rhetoric in praise of the unknown worker. Except these anonymous laborers weren’t all men. Unbeknown to Morrison — indeed, unbeknown to most people at the time or the crowds that cross the bridge today — it was built at least in part by women.The tour boat guides on the Thames know this. They call it the Ladies Bridge. With men conscripted to the armed forces during WWII, so the story goes, at least part of the work of building a new bridge was left to women.
Cassie Robinson and Jen Lexmond of the Point People have teamed up with the Women’s Engineering Society for a campaign to see a plaque on the bridge in memory of the female workers who helped build it.
“There’s such a gender gap in the stories that we tell — whether in fiction or in ‘fact.’ Too often women’s stories are ignored or unacknowledged,” Lexmond continued. “The stories we tell and imagery we have so strongly shape our collective unconscious — what we think women and men are, can do, can be, can aspire to.”
Sources:
1. How We Get To Next: http://www.howwegettonext.com/Article/VPnQKyoAAODwdopH/the-forgotten-story-of-the-women-who-built-one-of-londons-most-iconic-bridges
2. The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/feb/15/forgotten-women-helped-build-waterloo-bridge