19 Feb 2021 Feminists have denounced proposals to honour war heroes who won the Victoria Cross and George Cross with hometown statues because not enough of them are women. Awarded, often posthumously, for the “most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy”, each Victoria Cross is struck from bronze taken from captured enemy guns, and it is regarded as the highest military honour in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. So rarely is the medal given, there are just nine living recipients of them worldwide. The George Cross is considered the VC’s equal in merit, and is awarded for similarly outstanding gallantry not in the face of the enemy, often to civilians. Famously the Queen’s father, George VI, collectively bestowed the honour upon the island of Malta for the heroism of its population while besieged by the Axis powers during the Second World War, and the island nation’s flag bears that cross to this day.