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#Vote100: Revealing your favourite works of art by women

19 February 2018

To mark the 100th anniversary of women over 30 getting the vote in the UK, BBC Radio 4's Front Row asked for your favourite female-created works of art.

Here is a selection of highlights from the films, books, music and art that were suggested on social media - two of which will be debated on a tie-in Front Row special.

Hear the debate

Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush

Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights inspired 18-year-old Bush to write this song, which she fought to convince producers to use as her debut single. Turns out she was right, as the track catapulted her to fame and is now ranked as one of the top singles of all time. Photo by Rob Verhorst/Redferns.

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Ms. Marvel Vol. 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson

Kamala Khan is a teenage American Muslim superhero and current star of the award-winning Ms. Marvel comics. Her series, by Muslim writer G. Willow Wilson, portrays the Muslim-American experience, and her graphic novel No Normal was called "the most important comic" of 2014. Images © Marvel Comics.

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My Bed by Tracey Emin

My Bed (1998) was inspired by a depressive phase in Emin's life, when she had spent days in bed after relationship difficulties. The recreation of her ‘vile’ bed was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1999; despite outcry at the time, it is now praised as a game-changer for contemporary art. Photo by Rob Stothard/Getty Images.

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Mississippi Goddam by Nina Simone

Mississippi Goddam (1964) was written by Simone in response to the murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers in Mississippi. She called it her “first civil rights song”, and performed it for 10,000 people at the Selma to Montgomery protests in 1965. Photo by David Redfern/Redferns.

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When Harry Met Sally by Nora Ephron

When Harry Met Sally (1989) stars Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in one of the all-time great romantic comedies. It won writer Nora Ephron a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay, which she wrote based on interviews she conducted with director Rob Reiner and other friends, asking questions about their love lives.

When Harry Met Sally is writer and stand-up Rosie Fletcher's favourite work by a female artist, and she will champion it in Front Row's head-to-head debate against Tracey Emin's famous sculpture My Bed. Listen to the on-air battle here.

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Beloved by Toni Morrison

Beloved (1987) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel set after the American Civil War. Inspired by an 1856 article, Toni Morrison’s harrowing story is of an escaped slave who kills her baby rather than let her be recaptured by slavers, but is then haunted by the child’s ghost. Photo by Micheline Pelletier/Corbis via Getty.

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Ariel by Sylvia Plath

Ariel (1962) is a poem written by Plath shortly before her suicide at the age of 30. The emotive work describes an early morning horse-ride towards the sun, and is one of her most highly regarded and widely discussed poems, particularly as a meditation on identity and gender. Image: Bettman/Getty.

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Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingird by Frida Kahlo

Mexican painter Frida Kahlo’s 1940 self-portrait reflects her love of monkeys, which she kept as pets. Though her neck is bleeding, her expression remains stoic, and the work is considered a statement on enduring the pain of her recent divorce. Image © Leemage / Bridgeman (left), Bettmann (right).

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Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818) is one of the most famous horror novels of all time. Mary Shelley’s story tells of young scientist Victor Frankenstein, who gives life to a grotesque monster in his laboratory. Shelley picture by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty.

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The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie

The Mousetrap is a murder-mystery play by prolific crime writer Agatha Christie. It opened in London in 1952, and Christie thought it would close after eight months; in fact it has run continuously ever since, the longest initial run for any play in history. Image: Matthew Chattle/Alamy Live News.

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