Feminism in the Era of Thatcherism, 1979–1999

Abstract

Like all successful radical movements Women’s Liberation had eventually to confront the problem of maintaining its momentum. By the later 1970s the growing contrast between women’s advances on the socio-economic front on the one hand and the static political situation on the other raised the old question as to whether a change of tactics would now be appropriate. While many Radical feminists, alienated by the political process, preferred to pursue their aims by organising an alternative feminist culture within patriarchal society, others began to conclude that the achievement of further reforms would require greater support within the male-controlled system; as a result, attention switched to potential alliances with the trade unions and the Labour Party.