New York's Central Park inaugurated on Wednesday its first statue honoring "real women," two of them white and one black, all of them pioneers in the struggle for women's rights, in a significant foot in the door of an urban landscape, completely dominated by white men.
In its 167-year history, the park has seen some 30 statues installed, but they have honored only white men and fictional women like Alice in Wonderland, and Juliet from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet."
On Wednesday, that "bronze ceiling" was shattered, as former US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton said at the statue's inauguration, which was streamed online.
According to AFP, the inauguration comes a week after the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, which gave women the right to vote.
The statue sits alongside one of the park's most popular paths, the so-called Literary Walk, not far from statues of Shakespeare, the poet Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott.
It represents the culmination of a seven-year effort, said the Monumental Women association, which fights for wider recognition of women's role in history.
"What we all seek is nothing less than a full and fair historical record that reflects the contribution of all women and people of color, and we won't stop until we win that," it added.
