The Bristol Women’s Centre opened in September 1976 at 44 The Grove. Focus for many feminist campaigns, the centre offered pregnancy testing, and advice on legal issues, accommodation, contraception, domestic violence and rape.
Forty Years a Feminist commemorates Bristol’s feminist activism with a panel discussion, the launch of Miriam David’s book Reclaiming Feminism, and a party to celebrate four decades of achievement. Chaired by Helen Taylor, the panel – Liz Bird, Miriam David, Helen Dunmore, Ellen Malos, Pam Trevithick and Jackie West – represents various campaigns and activities within the mid-1970s Bristol Women’s Liberation group.
There will be exhibitions from Feminist Archive South and the University Women’s Theatre Collection.
Photo of Ellen Malos.
In association with/
Panel
Liz Bird worked with adults in higher education for over 30 years – latterly at the University of Bristol – teaching cultural studies, women’s studies and film. After a break of over 40 years, she returned to the practice of visual art and undertook the Fine Art Foundation at Bristol School of Art, Queens Road. In 2009 she completed the MA in Multidisciplinary Printmaking at the University of the West of England and is currently a printmaker and member of Spike Print Studio.
Miriam David is Professor Emerita of Sociology of Education at UCL’s Institute of Education. As a feminist academic activist for over 40 years, she has written on family, gender, education and social policies: most recently Reclaiming Feminism: Challenging Everyday Misogyny and A Feminist Manifesto for Education.
Helen Dunmore is a novelist, poet, short-story and children’s writer. Her latest novel is Exposure. She was the inaugural winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction (now the Baileys Prize) and her work has been translated into more than 30 languages. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Ellen Malos is a lifelong feminist. She was a founder member of the Bristol Women’s Liberation Movement after her arrival here from Australia in 1962. The first Bristol women’s centre and refuge was a room in her home. A published author on women’s history and feminist thought, she co-founded the Gender and Violence Research Centre at Bristol University and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate for her work. Her papers are held in the University’s Feminist Archive (South).
Helen Taylor is Professor Emerita of Literature, University of Exeter, and Honorary Research Fellow, British Association of American Studies. She was the director of the first ‘Sistershow’, Bristol, 1973, and has published widely on women’s writing and culture. She is Director of Liverpool Literary Festival 2016, and a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow 2016.
Pamela Trevithick was actively involved in the running of Bristol Women’s Centre and later focused on setting up Bristol Womankind, where she worked for nearly ten years with women struggling with mental health issues. She is a member of Bristol Fawcett, a previous Chair of Bristol Rape Crisis and currently a retired social worker and Visiting Professor in Social Work at Buckinghamshire New University.
Jackie West was a sociologist working at the University of Bristol. Campaigns for employment equality and reproductive rights inspired her teaching and research. She had particular interests in work, the family and sexuality, was vice chair of the Brook Advisory Centre in Bristol for many years, and undertook research for the Health Authority on young people and sexual health. She is currently involved in an EU project on sex work and prostitution policy.
