The chronology presented here is an updated and expanded version of our original paper-format compilation and the previous web version. It provides an overview of activity in the Women’s Liberation Movement from 1965 to 1979, for interest and to assist further research. If you want to know more about a specific conference, publication or event then please search the FAN catalogue.
Navigating through the chronology can easily be accomplished by using the dates at the top of the page. A quick browse through the origin and the organisation of the chronology may also be helpful before you begin.
Feminist Archive North gratefully welcomes stories, photos and other memorabilia from the conferences and campaigns listed on these pages. Please use our donation form.
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.
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 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 was 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 had three main foci:
At the time the chronology was created (summer 1996), 20 interviews had been conducted with 23 different women. These interviews have been digitised and can listened to via the FAN catalogue. Summaries and some transcripts are available to consult at University of Leeds Cultural Collections. Booking required here
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.
This chronology is not being updated, but new materials are continually being added to our collections. Therefore please search our catalogue for material on topics you are interested in.
It was the intention of this project to include all national events, however they are defined, in all areas of the United Kingdom.
If anyone 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 to the Feminist Archive North please complete our donation form so that we may expand and preserve the herstory of the WLM for future generations of women.
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.
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.
5. Legal and Financial Independence for All Women.
6. The Right to a Self Defined Sexuality. An End to Discrimination Against Lesbians.
In 1978 at the National WLM Conference, Birmingham, the first part of this demand was split off and put as a preface to all seven demands
7. Freedom for all women from intimidation by the threat or use of violence or sexual coercion regardless of marital status; and an end to the laws, assumptions and institutions which perpetuate male dominance and aggression to women.
| AFFIRM | Alliance For Fair Images and Representation in the Media |
| ALRA | Abortion Law Reform Association |
| ASA | American Sociological Association |
| AWARE | Action for Women’s Advice, Research and Education |
| BSA | British Sociological Association |
| BUSWAG | Bradford Union of Students Women’s Action Group |
| CHE | Campaign for Homosexual Equality |
| CLAN | Committee for Lesbian Action Now |
| CP | Communist Party |
| DHSS | Department of Health and Social Security |
| FAST | Feminists Against Sexual Terrorism |
| GLF | Gay Liberation Front |
| IMG | International Marxist Group |
| IS | International Socialists (later the SWP) |
| ISIS | (An International Women’s Newsletter/Bulletin/Collective) |
| LAAG | London Abortion Action Group (becomes WACC) |
| MAMA | (Women Artists Together) |
| NAC | National Abortion Campaign |
| NALGO | National And Local Government Officers Association |
| NCCL | National Council of Civil Liberties |
| NOOL | National Organisation Of Lesbians |
| NOW | National Organisation for Women |
| NF | the National Front |
| NWAF | National Women’s Aid Federation (becomes WAF(E), Scottish Women’s Aid and Welsh Women’s Aid) |
| OHP | Oral History Project (of The Feminist Archive North) |
| PROS | Programme for the Reform Of Soliciting laws |
| POW | Power of Women (also known as WFH) |
| ROW | Rights of Women |
| SEQUEL | (A contact service for isolated lesbians) |
| SPUC | Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child |
| SWAT | So What’s Alternative Theatre? |
| SWP | Socialist Workers Party |
| UWL | Union of Women for Liberation |
| WA | Women’s Aid |
| WAF(E) | Women’s Aid Federation (England) |
| WAMM | Women Against Media Myths |
| WAR | Women Against Rape |
| YBA | Why Be A Wife? Campaign |
| WEA | Worker’s Educational Association |
| WERC | (Campaign against discrimination in education) |
| WFH | Wages For Housework |
| WIN | Women’s International Network |
| WINS | Women’s Information and Newsletter Service |
| WL | Women’s Liberation |
| WLM | Women’s Liberation Movement (Britain) |
| WLW | Women’s Liberation Workshop |
| WNCC | Women’s National Co-ordinating Committee |
| WRRC | Women’s Research and Resources Centre |
| WWC(C) | Working Women’s Charter (Campaign) |
This list includes towns which had at least one WLM group during this period. This list is partially complete as there are probably many more groups that existed but have not been encountered in this research. Again, if you are aware of any such groups, or if you have material from any WLM groups, whether they are listed here or not, we hope that you will contact the Archive to help us to build a more complete herstory of WLM activities.
There are many cities which had groups that were defined by their within city region such as the group from the Chapeltown area of Leeds to name but one example. Listing all such groups is not possible.
Key: 
women’s centre 
rape crisis
| England Abingdon Airedale Banbury Bath Billericay Birmingham Blackpool Bolton Bournemouth Bracknell Bradford Bridgwater Brighton Bristol Broadbottom Cambridge Canterbury Chelmsford Cheltenham Chesterfield Chippenham Cleveland Colchester Coventry Crewe Crowley Darlington Derby Doncaster Durham East Leigh Enfield Exeter Guildford Hanley Harrogate Harrow Hatfield Hemel Hempstead, High Wycombe | Hitchin Hove Hull Hyde, Cheshire Ilford Ilkley Keele Keighley Kingston upon Thames Lancaster Leamington Leeds Leicester Lewes Lincoln Liverpool London Loughborough Maidstone Manchester Matlock Merseyside Medway, Kent Newcastle under Lyme Newcastle upon Tyne North Shields North Tyndale Norwich Nottingham Oxford Penzance Plymouth Poole Preston Reading Rochdale Romford Salford Sheffield Shepton Mallet | Shrewsbury Southampton Southend on Sea St. Austell Stafford Starnford le Hope Stevenage Stratford Swansea Tauton Teddington Walton on Thames Warwick Watford Weston Super Mare Weymouth Whitby Wivenhoe Wolverhampton Worcester Worthing York Scotland Aberdeen Caithness Dundee Edinburgh Falkirk Glasgow St. Andrews Teeside Walls (Shetland) Wales Bangor Breconshire Cardiff Monmouth Newport, Wales Oaklands |
First draft: November 1996
as a publication of the Feminist Archive Bradford (Now Feminist Archive North)
Compiled and with commentary by Elizabeth Arledge Ross and Miriam L. Bearse
Edited by Karen E. Boyl with the Oral History Project Advisory Group
ISBN: 185143 154 3
The Archive Advisory group for the academic year 1994-1995 comprised Elizabeth Arledge Ross, Jalna Hanmer, Sandra McNeill, Alison Garthwaite and Karen Boyle. In October 1995, when Miriam Bearse became the project researcher, Marina Sarjeant and Deborah Smith joined the Advisory group. Jalna Hanmer and Sandra McNeill are also trustees of the archive.
Many thanks to the following women who have supported the project by agreeing to be interviewed: Lee Corner, Louise Lavender, Alison Garthwaite, Sandra McNeill, Jalna Hanmer, Sheila Jeffreys, Elizabeth Shorrocks, Nancy MacKeith, Yvonne Stringfellow, Sara Dixon, Elsie Dawson, June Butt, Janet Davidson, Julia Moore, Karen Griffiths, Angela Douglas, Sarah Lockyer, Errollyn Bruce, Maria Spellacy, Wendy Collins, Sheila Allen, Annette Stansfield and Jane Tate.
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.
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