HST6392 - Searching For Sisterhood: Feminist Activism in Britain 1968-1988

The women’s liberation movement was one of the most influential and imaginative protest movements ever witnessed in Britain, seeking structural, political, social and cultural change. Contemporary feminists still benefit from - while often critiquing - their legacy. In this module, we will explore activists' urgent and creative demands for change in all aspects of their lives, through their insistence that the personal was political. We will analyse how factors such as geography, class, race, sexuality and dis/ability shaped their campaigns. We will investigate efforts to gain equal pay and receive 'wages for housework', examine protests which attempted to ‘Reclaim the Night’ and abolish virginity testing for migrant women, and consider women’s involvement in protest movements against racism and nuclear power. Throughout, we will use women’s own testimonies to help us understand their ideas - including magazines, artwork and oral histories – and consider the importance of women’s history itself.