NORTHWICH woman Sue France has featured on Amnesty International’s Suffragette Spirit Map of Britain.

Amnesty International UK today launches its map to celebrate the incredible work being carried out by women in their communities 100 years on from first winning the vote.

For the past month Amnesty has worked with newspaper groups such as Newsquest to scour the country for women who embody the continuing suffragette spirit - today’s women human rights defenders.

Sue helps run Forward Ladies, a business support network for women. She supports women meet contacts, grow their confidence, and encourages them to stand up and talk passionately about their business. She wants to inspire women to feel they can run their own successful business.

The huge number of nominations and the enormous range of issues being tackled by these often unsung heroes is unprecedented.

Women around the country are setting up support groups to aid refugees, tackling the issues surrounding domestic abuse through theatre, setting up initiatives to tackle bullying in schools, establishing charities to tackle period and clothing poverty, standing up for pensioners’ rights, campaigning for better facilities for disabled people.

On seeing the map, Helen Pankhurst, great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst, who founded the Suffragette movement said: “As we celebrate International Women’s Day, there is no better time to launch this map and push these incredible women into the spotlight to be praised and recognised for their work.

“I imagine if the suffrage campaigners of old, including my great-grandmother Emmeline and grandmother Sylvia, could see Amnesty’s map, they would be extraordinarily moved. Because while together they helped set a precedent for women taking action, I doubt they would have known what their irrepressible drive and attitude would resonate 100 years later – and give visibility to women who are standing up and promoting human rights in such a varied and all-encompassing way.”

The Suffragette Spirit campaign forms part of Amnesty’s wider Brave campaign, that launched last year and seeks to highlight the dangers facing human rights defenders around the world and afford them better protection.