Organisations and Campaigns

• Action for Lesbian Parents, Cambridge

• Baby Foods Action Group, London

• Custody of Children, London

• Feminist Translation Service, London

• Gay Wives and Mothers Campaign, Cambridge

• ISIS International

• National Abortion Campaign(NAC) (now Abortion Rights)

Growing out of the demand for abortion and contraception, the NAC is a single issue mixed (men and women members) campaign for abortion rights with a national and various regional offices.

“[NAC was formed] as a direct response to the James White Abortion (Amendment) Bill [ … ] from the start, we were primarily a one issue, defensive campaign [ … ] even so, the composition of the campaign differentiated it from previous abortion lobbies in that the perspective of most its membership was, broadly speaking, a feminist one [ … ] ever since our formation though, there has tended to be a gap between our practice, and our feminist ‘theory. ” (Leeds NAC 1975)

” ‘Abortion on Demand’ is not itself a demand for free control over our fertility, for it forgets both contraception and rape [ … ] It is not a transitional demand [ … ] the struggle against power politics and power relations has as much to do with us as a sex, as it has with abortion, which cannot be seen separately.” (Henderson 1976: 13)

• NWAF (National Women’s Aid Federation). (NWAF later split into WAF(E) Women’s Aid Federation (England); Scottish Women’s Aid; Welsh Women’s Aid and Northern Irish Women’s Aid)

Six aims are stated, including: providing temporary refuge for women and children on request; encouraging women to determine their own future; to recognise/care for the needs of the children; to offer support and advice whilst in the refuge and afterwards; and to educate and inform the public “with respect to the battering of women. mindful of the fact that this is a result of the general position of women in society.” (Oxfordshire Women’s Aid 1976).

• Rights of Women (ROW, from National Council of Civil Libertiesor NCCL)

• Women Against Fascism in Spain, London

• Women in the Communications Industries, London

• Women and Crime, London

• Women’s Law Centre, London

• Working Mothers’ Action Group, London

• Women in Publishing Group, London

• Women and Psychiatry, Birmingham

• Women’s Research and Resource Centre(WRRC), London

• Women’s Rights Committee for Wales, Cardiff

• Women in Science, London

• Working Women’s Charter Campaign (WWCC) Bristol, Leeds, London, Merseyside

• Free Sanitary Protection Campaign, Bristol

• Wages for Housework, London

“Here we see a picture of Wages for Housework campaigner and member of the Power of Women collective, Selma James, refusing entry for male members of the Press to the launch of the Campaign at Conway Hall, Holborn on the 26th July 1975.” (text and photo from Conway Hall, The First 75 Years)

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