National Women's Liberation Conference

The National Women's Liberation Conference (or National Women's Liberation Movement Conference) was a United Kingdom initiative organised to bring together activists in the Women's Liberation Movement with an aim to developing a shared political outlook. Ten UK conferences took place between 1970 and 1978.[1] There was a Welsh conference in 1974 and a Scottish conference in 1977.[2] During these conferences the seven demands of the UK Women' Liberation Movement were formulated:[3]

  1. Equal pay
  2. Equal educational and job opportunities
  3. Free contraception and abortion on demand
  4. Free 24-hour nurseries
  5. Legal and financial independence for all women
  6. The right to a self-defined sexuality. An end to discrimination against lesbians
  7. Freedom for all women from intimidation by the threat or use of violence or sexual coercion regardless of marital status; and an end to the laws, assumptions and institutions which perpetuate male dominance and aggression to women.

First Conference, Oxford, 1970

The first National Women's Liberation Conference was held 27 February - 1 March 1970 and attracted over 600 women. The first four demands were discussed.[1] The conference was held at Ruskin College, Oxford. It was organised by a group of women who had been participating in the History Workshop seminars including Ruskin students Arielle Aberson and Sally Alexander, and historian Sheila Rowbotham. It was initially been planned as an academic conference on women's history but it was decided that a meeting to address they contemporary lives of women was needed.[4][5] Rowbotham gave the call for papers and historians Anna Davin, Catherine Hall, Juliet Mitchell and other gave papers and spoke.[6]

Attendees included approximately 60 men and 40 children. Male attendees, which included Stuart Hall, ran the opened and ran a creche. Jamaican-born youth worker Gerlin Bean was one of the few Black women who attended. In an interview following the conference she said “the problems as women are the same; the problems as black women are different. Very different.” Bean went on to co-found the Brixton Black Women's Group, a key organisation in the UK's Black Women's Movement.[5] The conference organisers had to expand the conference into the Oxford Union because of the high turnout of attendees. Rowbotham stated that the move to the Oxford Union was “poignant considering it was an environment that was meant to produce male orators who would become prime ministers”.

At the final session of the conference, called “Where Are We Going?” facilitated by Lois Graessle, attendees voted unanimously on four demands:

  1. Equal pay
  2. Equal educational and job opportunities
  3. Free contraception and abortion on demand
  4. Free 24-hour nurseries

British newspaper The Guardian called the conference the "biggest landmarks in British women's history".[7]

Second Conference, Skegness, 1971

This was held on 15 - 17 October 1971. The four demands from the First Conference were agreed.[1]

Third Conference, Manchester, 1972

This was held on 25-26 March 1972.[1]

Fourth Conference, London, 1972

This was held in November 1972.[1]

Fifth Conference, Bristol, 1973

This was held on 25-26 March 1973.[1]

Sixth Conference, Edinburgh, 1974

This was held in July 1974. The fifth and sixth demands were added.[1]

Seventh Conference, Manchester, 1975

This was held on 25-26 March 1975.[1]

Eighth Conference, Newcastle, 1976

This was held on 23-25 April 1976.[1]

Ninth Conference, London, 1977

This was held in 1977.[1]

Tenth Conference, Birmingham, 1978

This was held on 7-9 April 1978. The seventh demand was added.[1]

Welsh National Women's Liberation Conference, Aberystwyth 1974

This was held in Aberystwyth, 1974[1]

References
  1. "Timeline of the Women's Liberation Movement". British Library. British Library. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  2. "Bust Up: Women's Liberation in '60s/'70s Aberdeen". Lenathehyena's Blog. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  3. Mackay, Finn. "The 7 Demands of the UK Women's Liberation Movement". FinnMcKay. Finn Mackay. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  4. Bird, Elizabeth (2003). "Women's studies and the women's movement in Britain: origins and evolution, 1970–2000". Women's History Review. 12 (2): 263–288. doi:10.1080/09612020300200351. ISSN 0961-2025.
  5. "The Beginnings of Women's Liberation in Britain". LSE History. 2020-03-17. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  6. "Women's liberation: a national movement". The British Library. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  7. Cochrane, Kira (2010-02-26). "Forty years of women's liberation". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
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