The Face of Metropolitan Feminism: The London Women's Liberation Workshop, 1969-79

Abstract

The history of the Women's Liberation Movement has been told in a very particular way. Often written by those directly involved, it depicts a rapid rise of the movement, followed by an equally dramatic decline, caused in part by lack of structure. Historians also divide the movement into two polarized sides, socialist and radical, seeing radical feminists as instigating the movement's fall. Through a detailed study of a Women's Liberation Movement organization—the London Women's Liberation Workshop—this article challenges this picture. Focusing on the broad range of issues discussed, and the diversity and vibrancy of debate, it shows that the movement always had a form of structure, which was constantly evolving, and it was never clearly divided into two opposing sides. Instead, we see a movement which was very far from defunct by the end of the 1970s, for the changes and challenges it went through were a part of its development, not its demise.