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A day at the races followed by a rock concert on Saturday were given a new perspective by the death of one woman one hundred years ago. The Epsom Derby provided a moment to remember Emily Wilding Davison, who came onto the race-track and sustained injuries that led to her death. The same evening, Beyoncé and other stars entertained fifty thousand in Twickenham and broadcast to one and fifty countries, to support Chime for Change, a charity committed to gender equality. Desmond Tutu said that, ‘Empowering girls and women is the challenge of our time’, reflecting one of the millennium goals of the United Nations.

The coincidence of these two events raises the question of how much more work is to be done to overthrow the power structures which oppress women throughout the world – and how this should be pursued. On the centenary of Emily’s death, historians have pointed out how difficult it is to know of her motives, intentions and indeed its influence on public opinion. However, she did see the struggle for change in terms of confrontational tactics. She pushed the boundaries of acceptable action during her membership of the Women's Social and Political Union. At the same time, she saw that change could only happen through sacrifice, enduring imprisonment and force-feeding. In her essay, ‘The price of liberty’, published after her death, she reveals the relationship of her Christian faith to the cause of women. Like many of her era, she was moved by the sacrifice of Jesus. But it was not an encouragement to accept the role of victim - instead for her it was that the risk of sacrifice enabled change...