Welcome to the Chronology of the WLM in Britain
1965-1979

The Chronology presented here is an updated and expanded version of our original paper-format compilation. Wherever possible, we have tried to link to additional materials available on the internet, as well as to digital copies of materials available in the archive itself. We also hold a collection of Oral History Interviews from women active in the WLM in Leeds and Bradford.

Navigating through the Chronology can easily be accomplished by using the dates at the top of the page. Alternately, there are ‘Previous’ and ‘Next’ options at the top of each page. Following these will take you page by page through the entire document.

A quick browse through the origin and the organisation of the chronology may also be helpful before you begin.

Something to share?

Feminist Archive North gratefully welcomes stories, photos and other memorabilia from the conferences and campaigns listed on these pages. We can help you digitalise materials for electronic donation — share your experience and keep your memorabilia too!

Key to symbols used:

	FAN has at least one issue of this journal/newsletter
	FAN has a complete run of this journal/ newsletter.
	FAN has a file containing information from this conference

Feminist Small Press Books and Pamphlets on the WLM in Britain:

~ Graham, et al. (2003) The Feminist Seventies York, UK: Raw Nerve Books

~ Fairburns, Zoe (2003) Women’s Demands in the Feminist Seventies and Now  York, UK: Raw Nerve Books

Additional external sites of interest:

~ Cliff, Tony (1984) Class Struggle and Women’s Liberation [particularly Chapter 11 – The WLM in Britain], from the Marxist Internet Archive

~ Documents from the Women’s Liberation Movement: An Online Archival Collection at Duke University (US)

~ Feminist Seventies Conference at the University of York, April 2002

~ Hanmer, Jalna – Making Connections: Researching Gendered Violence

~ German, Lindsey (2003) Women’s Liberation Today. International Socialism Journal 101 [online]

~ Lefties: Angry Wimmin, a BBC4 Documentary on Revolutionary Feminists in Leeds

~ Setch, Eve* (2002) The Face of Metropolitan Feminism: The London Women’s Liberation Workshop, 1969–79. Twentieth Century British History 13(2):171-190

~ The Women’s Library, Catalogue of Women’s Liberation Movement resources

~ Women in Politics*, Special Issue of Parliamentary Affairs, January 1996

~ Yorkshire Women of the Century

* Athens or similar subscription may be required to view content in peer-reviewed journals
Feminist Archive North accepts no responsibility for content on external sites

Introduction

~ The origin of the chronology

~ How to use the chronology

~ Key to symbols used

Chronology by Year

~ (Click on appropriate box at left)

Appendices

~ The Demands of the Women’s Liberation Movement

~ List of Abbreviations used

~ Listing of Women’s Liberation Groups, by Town

References

~ Notes on references

~ Published Works cited

~ WebCites

Credits

~ Advisory group and interviewees

The information presented in this chronology has been compiled from journals contemporary to this time period: Women’s Report, the newsletter of the Women’s Information Referral and Enquiry Service (WIRES), Leeds Bread and Roses, Shrew, Red Rag, Leeds Women’s Liberation Newsletter(s), Bradford Women’s Liberation Newsletter(s), Libertarian Women’s Network Newsheet / Newsletter, Women’s Voice, Women’s Struggle Notes, Scarlet Women, Socialist Woman, Revolutionary and Radical Feminist Newsletter (Rev/Rad), London Women’s Liberation Newsletter and Catcall.

Key to symbols used:

	FAN has at least one issue of this journal/newsletter
	FAN has a complete run of this journal/ newsletter.
	FAN has a file containing information from this conference

Feminist Small Press Books and Pamphlets on the WLM in Britain:We have also looked at and included information from various writings and research, including books, conference papers from local, regional and national conferences, interviews done for the Oral History Project (OHP) and a list of women’s liberation groups put together by the London Women’s Liberation Workshop for the 1973 National Women’s Liberation Conference in Bristol.
References are made in the text according to a standard Harvard format, with a complete list provided. Information from the journals listed above is not annotated, except when there is a direct quote from the text. Where we have quoted from an editorial or standard news column and the author(s) are not stated in the original, we have provided the title of the journal, issue and page number in the text for easy reference. These citations are not then duplicated in the list of references.Local newsletters are not listed with the exception of Leeds and Bradford newsletters – but it is likely that every town with a women’s liberation group also had a newsletter. Many Women’s Aid refuges and women’s centres also had a newsletter, as did most WLM organisations. Most larger towns/cities not only had at least one women’s liberation group but also a socialist feminist group, a women’s health group, a lesbian group, etc. Clearly it is impossible to list all of these groups here. However, we have attempted to give some indication of the number and variety of groups operating locally in this period by providing detailed listings of WLM groups and campaigns in the Leeds and Bradford area.All organisation and journal listings are under the first year in which we have found a reference to them. For campaigns and organisations with groups across the country (such as the Campaign for Legal and Financial Independence), only the town of the main office (where correspondence etc. was sent) and/or the first reference to the group is included. All abbreviated names are listed and explained in an appendix at the back. The appendix section also includes a listing of towns with women’s organisations in this time, and a listing of the seven demands from the National Women’s Liberation Movement Conferences (1970-1978).References to Oral History Project interviews in the text refer to the approved transcripts from the OHP, with the interviewee acknowledged and numbered chronologically. These transcripts are available for consultation in the Feminist Archive North.

A NOTE ON THE DIFFICULTY OF REFERENCING WLM MATERIAL

Many of the resources which have been drawn upon in the compilation of this chronology pose serious problems for conventional academic forms of referencing. Many key WLM pamphlets, newsletters etc. were not ‘published’ in the conventional usage of the word, but were produced locally by individual women or groups, photocopied and circulated. Early editions of newsletters were frequently not dated or numbered and if so have been dated here using a variety of clues within the texts themselves for example, if the price on the front cover is given in old money we can assume the publication was pre 1971; if the Corrie Bill is mentioned, it must be 1979 or after, and so on.

The list of references reflects these various difficulties. Where known, the publisher or the groups which circulated the pamphlet are listed. In the case of conference papers, full conference details are given when this information is available. The amount of information in each listing reflects the form in which that particular document was used in the research. For example, if an article which was at one point formally published is listed without a publisher, then the version of the article which was used in this research was an unpublished draft copy. Given these difficulties of categorisation, the un/published hierarchy is not maintained in this list of references by referring to WLM grassroots material as ‘unpublished’.

Please note that all of the articles cited here are available for consultation in the Feminist Archive North.

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Bearse, Miriam (1996) “An Oral History Project at Work: A Reflection on Current Research on the WLM in Britain”, paper presented at Women’s Studies Network (UK) conference on Feminisms: Past, Present and Future, University of Glamorgan, July 1996.

Belsize Lane WL Group (1978) ‘Nine Years Together: A History of a Women’s Liberation Group’, in Spare Rib, 69 pp. 41 46.

Big Flame Women’s Commission (1976) ‘Towards a Women’s Commission Report’, paper presented at Big Flame National Conference.

Birmingham Socialist Feminist Consciousness Raising Group (1978) ‘The Seven Demands of the Women’s Liberation Movement: The Beginnings of a History 1970-1978’.

Bradford Women’s Group (1976) (letter) WIRES 20, 29th September 1976, p. 15.

Brighton WL Group (1976) ‘The Seventh Demand some notes for discussion’, (letter)

Bruce, Errolyn (1976) ‘In 1970 …’ Untitled paper presented at a seminar at Bradford University.

Catcall Collective (1979) ‘Is it just us, or is it really cold out there?’ Catcall 9: 2 3.

Chester, Gail (1977?) ‘Letter in reply to some of the points about the history of the socialist/ feminist current and of the Working Women’s Charter Campaign in Scarlet Women No.4’ (letter)  Scarlet Women 5: 27 28.

Coulson, Margaret (1974) ‘LesbianLiberationWomen’sLiberation’, paper written for the National WLM Conference, Edinburgh.

Delmar, Rosalind (1973) ‘Some Notes on the History of the Movement’, paper for the Women’s Liberation and Socialism Conference, London.

Dwek, Erika H. (1977) ‘The liberal take over of the women’s movement’, Bread and Roses : 7: 3 4.

Edinburgh Women’s Aid (1976) Newsletter No. 1

Ettore, Betsy (1977?) ‘Women, Urban Social Movements and the Lesbian Ghetto’.

Hanmer, Jalna (1976) ‘Women’s Aid and the WLM in Britain’ paper presented at the American Sociological Association (ASA) conference 1976.

Henderson, Roberta (1976) ‘The Abortion Campaign (a fight to protect the more progressive 1967 legislation) to throw out White’s Bill, has been mismanaged in some ways, has been overplayed in terms of theoretical importance, and has successfully and progressively managed to evade the central issue…’,  Catcall 2: 13 14.

Jackson, Hilary (1978) NAC Conference Decision’, in Breaking Chains: The Newspaper of ALRA, 7, May June 1978, p3.

James, Selma (1976) Women, the Unions and Work , Bristol: Falling Wall Press.

Knight, R., T. Woodcraft, M. Purdy, C. Jones, and E. Coffey (1975) ‘What Demands and Campaigns for the Women’s Movement?’, paper which came out of the Nottingham WL Group for the Women’s Liberation and Socialism Conference, London.

Leeds Big Flame (1976) ‘Draft Report to Conference’, paper presented at Big Flame National Conference.

Leeds NAC Group (1975) ‘Paper from Leeds National Abortion Campaign’.

Leeds Women (1979) ‘Protest About Violence Against Women, 8/9/79 Bradford’, WIRES No. 76: 17.

Levine, Cathy (1974) ‘Tyranny of Tyranny’, Black Rose No. 1.

Lewis, Jane (1992) Women in Britain since 1945 , Oxford: Blackwell.

McIntosh, Mary (1974) ‘The 5th Demand’, Red Rag 7: 4 5.

Malos, Ellen (1972) Notes on the History of the Women’s Liberation Movement’, in  Enough: The Journal of the Bristol Women’s Group
(unnumbered edition from 1972), first appearing in the International Marxist Review, 3, April 1972.

Manchester and District Women and Socialism Group (1978a) ‘Socialist Feminist Current and [its] Relationship to Left Groups’, paper for the Socialist Feminist Conference, Manchester.

Manchester [and District] Women and Socialism Group (1978b) ‘NAC and its Lessons for the Socialist Feminist Movement’, paper for the Socialist Feminist Conference, Manchester.

Mitchell, Juliet (1971)  Womens’ Estate , London: Penguin.

Mohin, Lilian with Sara Scott (1984) ‘Storming the Wimpy Bars’, Trouble and Strife, 3, pp. 54-56.

Northeast Region Socialist Feminist Groups (York, Leeds, Hull, Durham, Doncaster, Sheffield) (1972) ‘Statement of Aims…’, paper for National WLM Conference, Acton (London).

North Shields Scarlet Women Collective (1979) ‘The Demands of the Women’s Liberation Movement: A Socialist Feminist Perspective’.

Oxford Women and Socialism Group (1975) ‘The Working Women’s Charter…’, Women’Strumpet , 93.

Oxfordshire Women’s Aid (1976)  First Report , Oxfordshire WA : Oxford.

Pattison, Nikki (1976 or 1977) ‘The Organisation and Structure of Women’s Aid’, written for Doncaster Women’s Aid and NWAF(E).

Rowbotham, Sheila (1969) Women’s Liberation and the New Politics . Nottingham: Spokesman.

Rowbotham, Sheila (1972) ‘The Beginnings of Womens Liberation in Britain’, in Michelene Wandor (ed.) (1972) (reprint 1978)  The Body Politic: Women’s Liberation in Britain. London: Stage 1, pp. 91-102.

Rowbotham, S., L. Segal, and H. Wainwright (1979) Beyond the Fragments: Feminism and the Making of Socialism, London, Merlin.

Scarlet Women Collective (1977) ‘A Short History of the Socialist Current Within the British Women’s Liberation Movement’. Scarlet Women , 4 (July 1977): pp 5-7.

Scottish Women’s Aid (1994)  Annual Report 1993/4 , Edinburgh: Scottish Women

Shildrick, Margrit (1979) ‘Feminism and the Organisation of Sexuality : Is Liberation a Lesbian Plot?’.

Shulman, Sheila (1976) ‘Lesbian Feminist ?Politics?’, Catcall 2: pp 5-9.

Shulman, Sheila (interviewed by Lynn Alderson) (1983) ‘When Lesbians Came Out Movement’, Trouble and Strife 1, pp. 51 56.

Sutton, Jo (1978) ‘Conference happenings’, Rev/Rad 1: 4

Sutton, Jo and Jalna Hanmer (1984) ‘The Early Days of Women’s Aid’, Trouble and Strife 4, pp.55 60.

Tufnell Park Women’s Liberation Group (1970) ‘The bourgeois press…’ untitled article, Shrew , April 1970, pp. 1 5.

Underwood, Betty (1973) ‘The Women’s Abortion and Contraception Campaign’, Enough: The Journal of the Women’s Liberation Group , 6, pp. 8 ~ 13.

Villanueva, Toni (1978) ‘Start of The Women’s Movement in Leeds’ (notes).

Wandor, Michele (ed.) (1972) (reprint 1978) The Body Politic: Women’s Liberation in Britain ; London: Stage 1.

Watford WL Group (1971) ‘The Future of the Women’s Liberation Movement in Britain’ paper for the National WLM Conference, Skegness.

Welsh Women’s Aid (1983) Annual Report 1982/3 , Cardiff. Fingerprints.

Women’s Liberation Workshop (1971) ‘A Brief History of the Women’s Liberation Workshop’, from An Introduction to the Women’s Liberation Movement , London. WLW.

This chronology is designed as a resource and a guide for women who are interested in the herstory of the Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM) in Britain, both inside and outside of academic institutions. What we have presented here is a draft which we hope will encourage contributions to help us to create a complete herstory of the WLM in Britain 1969 – 1979.

The basis of this chronology is in research undertaken for the Oral History Project on the Women’s Liberation Movement in Leeds and Bradford 1969 – 1979. The project was based in The Feminist Archive North, which has a focus on grassroots material from the WLM. This research began in October 1994 with Elizabeth Arledge Ross and was continued by Miriam Bearse. The explicit goal of the project from its beginning has been to record women’s memories before they fade, and to collect and preserve related printed material before it is destroyed or thrown away. Accordingly, this research has had three main foci:

1) interviews conducted with women active in the movement in the Leeds / Bradford area between 1969 – 1979;

2) the creation, from those interviews and related printed material, of the chronology of the WLM which is presented here;

3) the collection and preservation of early WLM material in the Feminist Archive North.

The project is assisted by the archive advisory group and the archive’s trustees. At the time the chronology was created (summer 1996), 20 interviews had been conducted with 23 different women. Transcripts of these interviews are available for consultation in the Feminist Archive. In January 2007, thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, FAN will have its first professional archivist and it is hoped that this project can now be expanded and consolidated.

What is presented here is a listing of WLM groups, organisations, journals and campaigns. This guide provides a brief outline of major issues of debate and interest during the period and will hopefully stimulate memories of WLM activities by mentioning other significant events that pertained to women in those years. In this vein, the researchers request that anyone who notes a missing entry that is appropriate to this chronology let us know, so that we may add it.

This chronology cites events as they were referred to within WLM publications, recognising that ‘national’ is used in different ways to mean Great Britain, the United Kingdom or to refer individually to Scotland, England, Wales or Northern Ireland. As the Oral History Project and the Feminist Archive are both based in England, the local, regional and ‘national’ materials we have had access to have been predominately English-based. Listings of Scottish and Welsh national organisations, conferences, publications and events are included where this information was available. However, at this stage we have relatively little in the way of local material from Northern Ireland and, therefore, there are no separate listings for Northern Irish WLM activities.

It is the intention of this project to include all national events, however they are defined, in all areas of the United Kingdom.

If any woman has material from any of the organisations, conferences, journals or events listed or from relevant WLM activities not listed which they would like to donate or lend to the Feminist Archive North we would urge you to contact us so that we may expand and preserve the herstory of the WLM for future generations of women.