The British Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1970s: Redefining the Personal and the Political

Abstract

This article aims to present the main aspects of the British Women’s Liberation Movement of the 1970s. It traces the history of the movement from the first national conference held at the University of Oxford (Ruskin College) in 1970 to the last national conference held in Birmingham in 1978. It focuses on the beginnings of the movement, on its influence in the adoption and improvement of gender equality legislation in Britain and it underlines the profound changes brought about in the perception and understanding of gender roles in British society. This article stresses the importance of feminist publications in the dissemination of feminist ideas beyond feminist circles. It also insists on the crucial role of the practice of consciousness-raising in the development of feminist theories, notably in the distinction between sex and gender and in the realisation that “the personal is political”.