Helen Pankhurst CBE | Senior Advisor CARE International, Prof at MMU

Photograph of Helen Pankhurst CBE
Photo credit Jill Jennings

Helen Pankhurst CBE is an author and a women’s rights activist and international development practitioner.

Helen studied at Sussex University, Vassar College, New York, and Edinburgh University and has an honorary degree from Edge Hill University and the University of Manchester. She is a Senior Advisor for CARE International, Professor at MMU and the First Chancellor of the University of Suffolk.

The great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst, leaders of the British suffragette movement, Helen carries on the legacy. This has included undertaking re-enactment work for awareness-raising including at the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, the 2015 film Suffragette, events around International Women’s Day in London, convening the Centenary Action Group and the Greater Manchester focused GM4Women 2028. in 2018 published the book: Deeds Not Words, the Story of Women’s Rights, Then and Now.

What one action would you like to see organisations, or the government take to drive gender equity?

Better collection and use of gender disaggregated data. Good data is a powerful tool for change.