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HOWL aims to create a welcoming online home for all oral, written and photographic memories of the Women's Liberation Movement 1969-1990s. We invite all older feminists to contribute! Visit our website to find out more >> https://howl-uk.org/about <<
Respectful Differences: 1983 letters concerning feminist theatre between Jill Posener and Sue Parrish. All images © Jill Posener howl-uk.org/respectful-d...
Nicolle Freni speaks in two parts about her 'Route 66 to Women's Liberation, including the kicks'. Read part one 'Growing Up a Working-Class Young, Gay, Woman in Brooklyn' here: howl-uk.org/my-route-66-... Nicolle age 32, at a friend’s wedding in Hackney
Judith Suissa writes about the origins of the ongoing 'Women In Black' weekly vigils. "Their presence is a reminder... of the feminist message that women, together in a public space, can be a powerful source of solidarity, protest and hope in a brutal world." howl-uk.org/women-in-bla...
Women from Ford Dagenham picketing for equal value for equal work, 1984. 16 years after their first walkout — credited with kick-starting the 1970 Equal Pay Act — they were still fighting for pay parity with skilled male workers. Credit: Maggie Murray. Format Archive, Bishopsgate Institute
In 1973, single women needed a male guarantor to get a mortgage. Hilary Land was there when financial & legal independence became the Fifth Demand of the Women's Liberation Movement: howl-uk.org/the-fifth-de...
The London Irish Women's Centre (1983-2012) was a feminist collective supporting Irish migrant women in London: housing rights, domestic violence support, anti-discrimination work, and cultural community. Ann Rossiter interviews Angie Bertill about her time there. 🇮🇪 Interview: tinyurl.com/2uv5xvjr
Brenda Prince's photographs from protests: Image one: Protesters at rally & march organised by WRRC/NAC against Enoch Powell’s Unborn Children (protection) Bill. (27 April 1985) Image two: NUJ Magazine Branch Picket of Sunday Sport offices, London, October 1986. Both from Format Archive.
Images courtesy of Andrea Kim Valdez from her article for HOWL: Art from Greenham Common 1981/2 howl-uk.org/art-from-gre...
Hilary Land’s article on the fifth demand of the WLM has inspired a history researcher from Royal Holloway to use the article as resource material on an A-Level course covering the history of second wave feminist activism. Well done Hilary! Read her article here: howl-uk.org/the-fifth-de...
The Fifth Demand of the Women’s Liberation Movement 1974-75 | HOWL
Women’s financial and legal independence was accepted as the Fifth Demand of the Women’s Liberation Movement at their national conference in June 1974.
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Become a Friend of HOWL, and contribute to making sure we gather as many stories of the Women's Liberation Movement as possible. howl-uk.org/join-the-how...
"...being at Spare Rib was like being in a permanent CR group – exposed to ideas, arguments and information about how women were treated all around the world." Janie Prince talks about her time in feminist publishing. Photos by Angela Phillips and Mark Rushner.
Seeking supporters for Spare RIb | HOWL
Seeking supporters for Spare Rib Janie Prince As women we are well tuned into a monthly cycle and at Spare Rib we were all tuned into the production and birth of a new monthly edition of our…
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"No internet, no social media, no apps." In this HOWL article, Helen Bishop remembers the women-run B&Bs, travel guides and feminist networks that helped lesbians find community, safety and adventure before the digital age. howl-uk.org/lesbians-tra...
In this piece for 'Write Women into History', Gilli Salvat recalls how women youth workers fought for girls' access to space, resources and opportunities in the 1970s and 80s—helping transform youth services across Britain. A reminder that progress is organised. howl-uk.org/the-girls-yo...
Caroline Bobby - "My childhood was such outwardly nice carnage, that I like to think of this hazy remembered interlude, as benevolence and healing. The lesbians saved my life – maybe without that wave of lesbi-kindness I would have given up." howl-uk.org/the-lesbians... ❤️
The Lesbians Saved my Life | HOWL
An account of a child’s experiences of homophobia at school and how the lesbians at Lancaster in the late 1960s saved her.
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Frankie Green remembers a 1970s Islington of feminist squats, women’s centres, communal childcare and lesbian organising. Her story is a reminder of how many public spaces, civil liberties and collective freedoms have since been lost. Read on: bit.ly/432jh9X Become a friend of HOWL: bit.ly/49Iub8t
Have you ever heard about the International Tribunal for Crimes Against Women in 1976? Helen Bishop went and she wrote about her experience for HOWL.
I Attended the International Tribunal for Crimes against Women in 1976 | HOWL
The International Tribunal for Crimes against Women, in Brussels, March 1976 was such an important event. 2000 women attended, from 40 different countries.
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From a Catholic Convent to Lesbian Feminism! by Carol Smith. Born in 1952 and raised a Catholic, Carol moved to London in 1978 and to Hackney in 1985. howl-uk.org/from-a-catho...
Judy Greenway discovered feminism in the 1960s - "I just felt I was different and didn’t want to fit in with what was expected of me." Very relatable! Read about her co-founding Catcall, a non-sectarian discussion journal by and for women in the WLM in the 1970s. howl-uk.org/finding-wome...
'Discovering You are Other' by Di Parkin. In this piece for HOWL she talks about the key texts and personal experiences in the 1960s-1970s that highlighted for her that as a woman she was 'other'.
Discovering You Are Other | HOWL
Discovering You Are Other: On first finding women’s liberation - and men’s sexism
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"1970s feminism wasn’t really a cult. For me it arrived at just the right moment, and whatever may still be wrong in sexual politics, things are far better now than they were under the dead hand of pre-70s patriarchy." Zoe Fairbairns on feminism and cultism.
Women's Liberation – my early years as a cultist | HOWL
WOMEN'S LIBERATION: I got involved with feminism the way some people get involved with religious cults.
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HOWL collects and publishes the stories of feminists involved in the UK Women’s Liberation Movement between the 1960s and 1990s. This includes decades of tireless organising to end violence against women, read some of those stories here: howl-uk.org/tag/violence...
Violence against women Archives | HOWL
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Would you like to volunteer with HOWL at next months Hackney History day on the 9th/10th, 16th or 17th May? If so, get in touch with us howl@howl-uk.org and we can give you some more information about how to get involved.
In 1972, women in Merseyside started to offer free pregnancy testing; by April 1973, Bolton, Cambridge and South London WLM groups had followed suit. Read about birth control services when they started in Bristol in 1973, by Helen Donoghue and Janet Brewer: howl-uk.org/a-free-pregn...
Suffragette Treasures: Writing My book 'Dear Girl' - Tierl Thompson explains how she came to write about the passionate love between two women, pieced together from a huge collection of diaries, letters, photos and political leaflets from the early 1900s. Read it here: howl-uk.org/suffragette-...
Suffragette Treasures: Writing My book Dear Girl | HOWL
In 1987 the Women’s Press published my book Dear Girl: the diaries and letters of two working women 1897-1917.
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Barbara Ridley on being a feminist AND a nurse, in the 1970s. Good heavens! Also being in the Red Collective and eating lentil curry...what next? howl-uk.org/how-can-a-fe...
How Can a Feminist be a Nurse? | HOWL
One woman exclaimed, in a haughty upper-class accent, “Good heavens. How can a feminist be a nurse?” I was probably too flabbergasted to reply
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"All through the 1970s there were books coming out that made me examine what it was to be a woman." Celia Burgess-Macey's account of her joining a consciousness raising group in Islington in the seventies. Read her article for a brilliant 1970s reading list! howl-uk.org/my-first-con...
'Greenham Gals' - Read about Liz Tunmer's time at Greenham Common with her CND group for parents, back in 1981. howl-uk.org/greenham-gals/
Did we Make a Difference? Catriona Courtier writes about her experiences of becoming a feminist in the 1970s, starting by reflecting on her badge collection from that era... reprinted from Write women into history, Hackney Howlers. howl-uk.org/did-we-make-...