The Labour MP Jo Cox, who was killed in her constituency, is to have a street, square or building in Brussels named in her honour.



Cox features in a long list of illustrious women drawn up by Brussels city council from which it will name newly created public places. The move is part of an initiative to increase female representation in the names of streets and squares in the Belgian capital.

Cox, who was stabbed and shot outside her constituency surgery shortly before the EU referendum in the UK, lived in Brussels for about six years. She spent two years advising Glenys Kinnock, who was then a member of the European parliament, before working for the charity Oxfam.

The College of Burgomaster and Aldermen of the City of Brussels adopted the list of women this week.

According to the Brussels Times, the two aldermen who drew up the list, Alain Courtois and Mohamed Ouriaghli, said the local authority was deeply moved by Cox’s killing, describing it as a “horrendous deed”.

Joanna Maycock, the secretary general of the European Women’s Lobby, an umbrella organisation of women’s associations supporting the initiative, said: “Jo was a close friend and exactly the kind of person that we want to see in politics: feminist, extraordinary, brilliant and fearless; motivated by a passion for women’s rights and social justice; and carries the conviction we can, and that it is our duty to fight for a safer, more just and egalitarian society.”

Brussels city council launched an action plan for “female and male equality” in 2014.

Other political figures on the list include the Belgian feminist Léonie La Fontaine; the founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union, Huda Sharawi; and Gabrielle Petit, a Belgian who spied for the British secret service during the first world war. There are also artists, sportswomen, scientists and writers.

Ouriaghli, the alderman for equal opportunities, said: “It is clear, by the patriarchal structure of our society, that men have appropriated the power, and by corollary decision making.

“Although during the last decades a more egalitarian organisation tends to emerge at the different levels, representations in public space are predominantly masculine. It is important to balance this by highlighting famous people, both male and female.”

On Friday the Old Bailey heard that Thomas Mair, the man accused of murdering Cox, was armed with expanding hollow-tipped bullets designed to inflict maximum damage.