Installation of the Ohio Women’s Monument began on the Ohio Statehouse grounds in Columbus on March 25, with an unveiling expected this fall. The monument will feature four granite columns inscribed with the names of notable Ohio women; bronze figures will stand at three of the columns, while the fourth remains open for future additions representing women yet to come.

Sculptor Brenda Councill, selected through a national artist search, is constructing the monument at her studio in Zanesville, North Carolina. The design centers on a young girl with an outstretched hand, positioned at ground level and looking up at one of the columns. Councill described her intent: “This monument is meant to be experienced, not simply observed. It invites people to walk among these figures, to reflect and to respond, to see activism not as history, but as a living, ongoing pursuit.”

The total project cost is $2.5 million, of which $1.7 million has been raised. One million dollars came from an anonymous donation made in honor of the late JoAnn Davidson, the first and only woman to serve as Speaker of the Ohio House. Former state lawmaker Stephanie Kunze, who sponsored the legislation creating the commission that developed the monument plan, noted that nationally fewer than 8 percent of all public statues depict real women. Ohio has never elected a woman to the U.S. Senate, and only Nancy Hollister has served as the state’s governor — a tenure of 11 days in early 1999.

Source: Ideastream Public Media / Statehouse News Bureau