Making Space — Bringing Feminism into the Town Hall

Abstract

Women’s committees were set up in an attempt to counter the under-representation of women in local government. They were inspired by a critique which saw the state as reinforcing discrimination, neglecting women’s demands, and transacting its business through structures over which women had no control. The women’s movement which gathered strength during the 1970s forced the Labour Party to give belated recognition to the discrimination suffered by women, through the Sex Discrimination and Equal Pay Acts. The attention of the women’s movement focused on central government, in campaigns over abortion or women’s rights, and on trade union struggles. No one thought women’s rights had much to do with local government. During the 1970s, even progressive Labour councils had pursued ‘gender-blind’ policies. Slowly, however, feminists began to point out the discriminatory implications of ‘treating everyone the same’; and to draw attention to the failure of local councils to meet women’s needs.

‘Local government … has never been a comely place for poor women or mothers. The demands of local government depend on leisure — the luxury of the affluent or of those who carry little or no responsibility for the lives of those with whom they live’ (Bea Campbell in New Socialist, November 1984).