Feminist cash for feminist culture: considering philanthropy in the UK Women’s liberation movement, Black power and beyond

Abstract

ABSTRACT Feminists of the 1960s-80s linked women’s emancipation to economic, social and political equality. So, despite long traditions of women’s giving, activists seeking financial support for their work generally looked to public funders or trade, whilst philanthropy was rejected. Women with wealth in turn experienced uncertainty, guilt or shame in how to give or invest in political contexts. Yet in fact, women did donate to feminist ventures, including literary productions, magazines and activist presses. This article uncovers this history, looking at how philanthropy helped sustain the cultural arms of social movements, yet usually unplanned and a last resort. Focusing on Spare Rib, WIRES, Trouble & Strife, Onlywomen and Black Power press Bogle-L’Ouverture, it explores the motives for both givers and receivers. Do donors have to be wealthy? What about donations to women’s activism from men, or to Black activism from white people? In answering these questions, I compare philanthropy in the UK with women’s funding movements in the US and the Netherlands at the time, considering their more proactive approaches to the risks that inequalities would be cemented. These examples demand consideration in today’s context of revived feminist activism and shrinking state funding, in which many are turning to private funding for support.