Labours of Liberation: Resourcing Feminist Activism in 1970s Bristol

Abstract This article uses a case study of Bristol Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM) to interrogate the bureaucratic, administrative and material logistics that sustained the Bristol Women’s Liberation Group across the 1970s. In particular, the study argues that negotiations over resources (both human and material) played a substantial role in shaping the nature and meaning of feminist projects. The article demonstrates that feminist activism did not run on ideological commitment alone but was the result of women making direct contributions to the cause in the form of time, energy, skills, space, and money.