This project documents and celebrates the wealth and diversity of the feminist music-making of the 1970s and 80s and demonstrates its importance in the political and social context of that era. As in other social movements and political struggles, cultural activism was a major part of the Women’s Liberation Movement that began in the late 1960s. In a great burgeoning of creativity, feminists fused artistic activities with politics to develop and express feminist ideas. Women’s music, film and theatre groups, art and theatre proliferated throughout the 1970s and 80s.

Feminist bands, musicians and related projects are archived here in a collection of written and oral histories and memorabilia. This includes photographs, videos, recordings, gig lists, lyrics and musical scores, press clippings, flyers, posters, weblinks and manifestos that testify to the creativity of the Women’s Liberation Movement.

If this is your first visit to the site we hope you will find it an interesting and useful resource – or, if you have visited before, that you will enjoy the way it has been developing since its launch on May the 1^st, 2011.

Information about bands, musicians and musical projects is gathered under names listed alphabetically on the A – Z pages above. The ‘search’ field will direct you to all pages featuring the object of your search. On the right-hand side of the blog posts page you will find a list of links to relevant websites about women’s ongoing music-making, feminist activism past and present, plus other archiving projects, enabling you to follow up information found in other pages.

A huge ‘thank you!’ to everyone who has made the archive possible through generously contributing material to the archive. As can be seen, there is quite a lot of information on some musicians, bands and projects and little or none for others. If you can help the archive to grow and to fill the gaps please contact us. All support in helping the archive to be as comprehensive and inclusive as possible is much appreciated.

Our collection of artefacts is housed by the University of Bristol Special Collections library, in conjunction with the Feminist Archive South. To view the online catalogue of this material, please visit https://archives.bristol.ac.uk/ and use the reference number DM2598. Visits to the collection can be arranged through the library. Students, researchers, activists and anyone interested in the feminist music-making and politics of the 1970s and 80s are welcome to make enquiries.

Your feedback is always welcome!

You can make a donation to help the archive securely through Paypal. Just click on the WLM button button below! You can donate any amount of your own choosing – we are unfunded so all support is welcome and much appreciated! All donations are used only to cover the running costs and develop the project, in accordance with our not-for-profit principles. You have the reward of knowing you are supporting feminist history!

CLICK THE CLENCHED FIST TO DONATE!

‘This archive is … an invaluable record of how in the early days of the Women’s Liberation Movement the message was in the music as much as in the spoken and written word.’ – Sheila Rowbotham