Edith Watson

Edith Mary Watson (née Wall; 6 November 1888 – 25 March 1966) was a British suffragist, police officer and campaigner against Female Genital Mutilation in the 1930s.

Early life and education Edith Mary Wall was born on 6 November 1888 in Hackney Union Workhouse in the London Borough of Hackney, to Martha Wall, an unmarried domestic servant. Martha married after Edith's birth, The couple had a son in 1919 but later divorced. Watson decided to document what she saw as unfair practice. She was employed as the Court correspondent for The Vote and she recorded the crimes or rape, sexual assault and incest ironically under the title of "The Protected Sex". She catalogued the sentences given to the perpetrators noting that prostitutes could get nine months for approaching clients whereas a man guilty of grievously harming a woman might get a third of the sentence. She started this work in 1912 and continued for three years to compare the sentences with those handed down for loss or damage to property.

She was a campaigner against Female Genital Mutilation in the 1930s. She wanted to have the practice banned inside the British Empire.

Archives The archives of Edith Mary Watson can be found at the Library of the London School of Economics (ref 7EMW).