U
a

Disabled Women and the Women’s Liberation Movement

by Beckie Rutherford

Disabled Women and the Women’s Liberation Movement

by Beckie Rutherford

How will these resources help you?


Just over fifty years ago (in February 1970), the first National Women’s Liberation Conference was held in Oxford and the story since then is well known and widely celebrated. Women of different classes and races across Britain were inspired by the mantra ‘the personal is political’ and achieved historic victories in terms of reproductive rights, employment and equal pay. But what about disabled women? We are taught to think of disabled people as passive and dependent and not as people with political agency who have always been involved in activism and liberation movements. In the 1970s, disabled women began to organise specifically around their shared experience of disability and womanhood. However, their stories and perspectives are rarely included in historical narratives celebrating the Women’s Liberation Movement. The ways in which disabled women were involved in the Movement often differ from stereotypical ideas of what second-wave feminism looked like. For example, many of their campaigns focused on making existing feminist resources and activities more physically accessible. The work of disabled women is therefore crucial to broadening our understanding of the many different forms that feminist activism could take during this period.


To continue reading please log in or sign up.

This site is free for teachers in UK schools