It's Curious City, where we take your questions about Chicago and the region, and investigate, report, explore, from WBEZ.

Hi, I'm reporter Liz Stanton. I'm in Ping Tom Memorial Park in Chinatown with question asker Kate Hannigan.

We're standing in front of a bronze statue of a woman, Justice Laura Liu.

She was the first Chinese American to serve on the Illinois appellate court.

Lou looks out heroically towards the city, book in hand, chest back, head up.

It just kind of says she was here.

She contributed.

The people in her community felt like it was worthwhile to put this up

and show that she is a part of the living, breathing, beating heart of Chicago.

That's Kate, and she wants to know why there aren't more statues like this one around Chicago.

She knows that great women were here, they contributed,

and she thinks they deserve to be recognized. Kids need to be able to look around boys and

girls, look around and say, I can be that. I remember wanting to be Johnny Carson when I was a kid

because I couldn't think of like any amazing women, honestly, which sounds a little ridiculous.

Chicago has close to 40 full-sized statues of men, sometimes called figurative sculptures,

and just one full-sized statue representing a real historical woman,

the judge we're standing in front of.

So Kate's right, and she's on a mission of sorts.

She'd like to see more statues of women around the city.

To her, the lack of figurative statues, of women you can recognize, it's a reflection of the way

women's contributions have been overlooked.

And Kate thinks this should change.

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